Gate of Destiny
by Athena1999
Summary: AU of Digimon Adventure 1. What if it was Angemon who gave Myotismon the final blow? Myotismon is trapped behind the Gate of Destiny, where he must come to terms with his greatest enemy-- his own troubled and corrupted past.
1. Before the Storm

~*~**GATE OF DESTINY**~*~

by AthEnA1999

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Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.  Or the storyline.  If I did, the storyline would have gotten some MAJOR changes.  I also use a LOT of lines from the show, and they belong to the show and the wonderful people at Toei and Fox Kids and all those other people who aren't me.

Intro and author's notes: THIS IS AN AU FIC!  AU FIC!  AU FIC!  AU FIC!  Now you can't say I didn't warn you.  This is my FIRST AU fic!  This fic, naturally, is about Myotismon.  AU FIC ABOUT MYOTISMON!!!!!!  (Fine, the first chapter isn't exactly about him, but it does have him in it a lot.)  Anyone who hates him, please exit quietly.  Dedicated to anyone who likes Myo.  Oh, and thanks to blackmage718 for helping me with the beginning!  Check out her fics, BTW!  Check out the fics of anyone who's reviewed, because I bet they write really good Myo fics too!  BTW, read "Myotismon: Two Lives, One Mon!"  It goes with this fic!  OK, here it is!  And sorry if this chapter is a little short; I've been a bit out of ideas since I finished FV.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE: What if Angemon had digivolved during the fight with Myotismon… and trapped him in the Gate of Destiny?  What lies on the other side, and what is going to happen to everyone's favorite evil digimon while being trapped?  MYOTISMON ANGST!  Will he possibly turn… good?  Oh, and Wizardmon isn't gonna die!

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Chapter 1

Before the Storm

  A moonless night made their arrival unnoticed.  Wisps of white fog gathered for miles as the dark stagecoach glided slightly above the ground, leaving no mark.  The large and small shapes moved at the speed of the stagecoach, prowling along the ground and floating in the air, depending on which type they were.  Hardly a sound was made except for the whooshing of air and the now-gentle steps of the DarkTyrannomon.

  The doorway to the underground palace was an abandoned grave.  The stagecoach was kept in a room next to the Devidramons' stable.  The doorway was opened to reveal a fluorescent blue underground corridor, which had stone steps that led down into a large dark stone room which led to a stone corridor.  At the end of the stone corridor was a small stone crypt.  Inside it was a black coffin adorned with a golden bat, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and various things where keepsakes were kept.

  The coffin opened, revealing a soft red velvet lining, and the ultimate digimon sank into it, glad that the underground lair in the real world had all the things his castle back on Server had.

  _I must rest and conserve my energy for the digi-destined's arrival,_ he thought to himself, closing his eyes.  Suddenly he was interrupted by one of his henchmen, a Bakemon, floating into the room.  _Damn it, can't I get rest before the sun rises?_  He was usually able to stay awake during the day and the night for up to a week, but that did not mean he couldn't rest and conserve his energy.  As an ultimate digimon with nearly unlimited strength despite his lanky figure, and potent attacks that could knock an ultimate, possibly a mega, out of the sky, he needed a lot of energy to maintain his potential and also needed to conserve it.  He didn't need much sleep, actually.  Despite the fact he was a vampire, he was equally active during the day and at night.

  "Master," said one of the Bakemon, "I hear the digi-destined are trying to arrive in the real world, and the gate opens not too far away from here!"

  "Let them come," replied Myotismon.  "My digimon army will be ready for them.  Unleash the least powerful of my guards on them, and if they defeat him, they won't stand a chance against the other ones."

  "Which one do you want me to release first?" wondered Bakemon.

  "Release all of them, in different places across Japan," answered Myotismon.  "Gesomon… release him in the bay.  Put Raremon near him.  Mammothmon, Tuskmon, and Snimon will prowl the streets.  Gizamon, Wizardmon, Gatomon, Pumpkinmon, Gotusmon, and of course, Demidevimon will be searching for the eighth child.  Megaseadramon will be in the water, while Gizamon will lessen the difficulty of the search for the others.  DarkTyrannomon will guard the child.  Bakemon like yourself will be causing terror and Phantomon will lead you."

  "Got it," replied Bakemon, flying away.

  "TK!  Wait up!" shouted Matt as his brother eagerly ran out of the subway car into the station.  They had both been traveling all over Japan all day in search of the eighth digi-destined child.  Patamon was flying behind him, followed by Gabumon on the ground.  Matt sighed, shook his head, and walked out in a dignified manner.  It was quite difficult being an older brother sometimes.

  "Come on, Matt!" laughed TK, his wide blue eyes shining in the lights of the station.

  Matt walked into the station with Gabumon and Patamon, then ventured over to the map.  "Well, according to this map, we're in Osaka, which means that there's a good chance of the eighth child being found."  He sighed.  "Let's hope Myotismon isn't here."

  "Do you know the plan?" questioned Myotismon, leaning over his desk and looking at Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon straight in the eye.

  "Of course we do, master," replied the rock digimon.  "We go to Shinjuku and search for the eighth child there.  And if he's not there, we must try the next city and trash the one that doesn't have the eighth child in it."

  "No, if he's not there that means you're not looking hard enough!" shouted the vampire.  The two small digimon backed away.

  "Scared of him?"  Gatomon whispered as she slid into the room.  "He can sense fear.  He says human blood tastes better with a dash of fear in it, and if he knows you're afraid he'll have your blood."

  "But he can't take my blood!  I'm made of rocks!" argued Gotsumon.

  "SILENCE!" shouted Myotismon.  "Gatomon, you will help Wizardmon search Odaiba.  I have a feeling he's very close."

  The cat digimon bowed respectfully, then left.  Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon looked warily at each other.

  "And you two…" he continued.  "Don't let me down."

  "Will do, Master Myotismon!" exclaimed the pumpkin digimon, saluting.

  "Yah, will do!" agreed Gotsumon, saluting and backing away.  Then both digimon started to run out of the crypt.

  "And you know what will happen if you fail me?" questioned Myotismon.

  "I believe we do," answered the rock digimon very timidly.

  "Good.  Then see that you don't.  You two are dismissed."

  "Matt, my feet are tired!" complained TK as they walked through Osaka for the second time.

  "My wings are tired!" shouted Patamon, dropping himself onto TK's shoulders.  "How much more searching will we have to do?"

  Matt looked at his digivice.  "A lot, I'm afraid.  I'm not getting a signal."

  TK examined his digivice as well.  "Neither am I, Matt."

  "Maybe we're not looking hard enough?" Gabumon suggested.

  "I'm not buying that this time," said Patamon.  "I mean, we've taken the scenic route through Osaka God-knows-how-many times."

  "It was twice," said Gabumon.

  "But that's not the point.  We've seen every citizen of Osaka at least once!  I mean, look!  That's the seventh time the girl in the pink dress has passed us.  Matt, he's not here!  The eighth child is not here!"

  "Fine," Matt sighed, stopping to rub his feet.  "My feet hurt anyway.  Maybe if we went to another large city, we could find the eighth child there, and maybe grab a bite to eat while we're at it.  I'm hungry."

  "Me too," agreed Gabumon.  "Why don't we get some dinner now?"

  "That's a great idea!" exclaimed TK, whose stomach was rumbling.  "I haven't eaten anything since breakfast, we were so busy looking for the eighth child!"

  "But I packed you a few sandwiches," said Matt.  "What happened to them?"

  Gabumon blushed.  "Oops," he said.  TK glared at him, then they all began to laugh as they ventured towards the subway station and a restaurant.  They were actually having a good time.

  "OK, Gotsumon, let's try not to party," said Pumpkinmon as they entered Shinjuku at that time.  "I really want to dance around in that club too, but if Myotismon finds out we haven't been working—"

  "We're toast," finished Gotsumon.  "And not the good kind from France, either.  Speaking of which, I'm hungry.  And we'll be laughed at by Demidevimon, and that's really low.  We've been laughing at Demidevimon this whole time!"

  "So, where to start…" mumbled Pumpkinmon as he examined the copy of the crest.

  Gotsumon elbowed his friend and winked.  "How about the toy store?  A lot of kids hang out in the toy store!"  He winked again.

  The pumpkin-headed digimon winked back at the rock digimon.  "Yes, we're sure to find the eighth child in the toy store!"  He and Gotsumon laughed mischievously and ran across the street, knocking over a few people while they were at it.

  It was evening, and the sun was beginning to sink into the sky, bathing all of Japan in bright orange light.  Clouds of fog rolled in around all the cities, cutting off all communication.

  "It's almost time for me to check up on my two little minions," said Myotismon, producing a viewing orb.  An image was shown in the orb of the two breaking into a casino.  "I see they're doing what I told them to do… what the hell are they doing?!"  He saw them pulling the slots on the slot machines.  Gold coins spilled out of one, onto the floor.  They scooped the money up before the manager came up to them.

  "Hey, no kids are allowed in here!" he shouted.

  "We knew that," admitted Pumpkinmon.  "But we're not kids!"

  _If they knew children were not allowed in that place, then how come they were in there?  To PLAY?_ thought Myotismon, growing enraged.  _Is that all they've been doing the whole time?_

  "You know, this sure beats working for Myotismon," said Gotsumon.  "He's just a stiff who doesn't know how to have fun.  Watch THIS!"  He tore a red and black velvet curtain out of a showcase window, then tied it around his neck.  He stood upright and frowned, lowering his voice.  "I am Myotismon the fang faced fashion reject!  I haven't changed my clothes for 700 years, which is why it looks so ridiculous on me!"

  "No wait, let me do one!" shouted Pumpkinmon, tearing the other curtain out of the window and tying it around his neck.  "I am Mayo-tismon, who arose from the rotten mayo to become an ugly old bat who only has bats around because they're blind and can't see me!  I think I'm cute but that's because I haven't seen my reflection for 10,000 years!"

  Both digimon erupted into laughter.  [A/N: **What Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon just said does NOT reflect the thoughts of AthEnA1999 or any other Myo fans.  AthEnA not only regrets, but rues and laments the bashing she has done.** ]

  Myotismon grew furious at the remarks his two henchmen had made about him.  "Those little bastards are going to get it," he muttered.  "For not only failing to obey me but mocking me in front of the entire crowd of humans!"  He walked furiously towards his stagecoach and whipped the Devidramon, causing them to fly into the air.  The stagecoach flew towards Shinjuku at tremendous speed.  "I'll make sure they do their job."

  So while everyone's favorite (or least favorite, depending on who is reading this) vampire digimon was going to make sure his two henchmen did their job instead of mocking him, Matt and TK had other problems.  They were looking for Patamon and had run into Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon instead.  They had intended to do the evil deeds their master had told them to do, but they decided to have fun instead.

  _You can tell they work for Myotismon_, thought Matt as they ran through the park, trying to keep up with the two digimon.  Also, they saw Patamon fly past a window and were trying to find him and work everything out.

  Suddenly, Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon ran up to them with ice cream swirled in a cone.  It looked appealing after all the running they had done.

  "Hey, don't look so bummed!" Pumpkinmon exclaimed.

  "Yah, have some ice cream!" added Gotsumon.

  Gabumon and Matt looked at each other suspiciously.  What if it was poisoned or a trick or something like that?  Gabumon said, "You guys don't have any money, so where did you get ice cream?"  It took all the willpower he could muster not to take it out of their hands and eat it.

  "We stole it!" exclaimed the two troublemakers.

  "Hey, come back!" shouted the vendor from behind them.  The five bolted off as quickly as they could until they lost the vendor for sure.  Matt and TK were incredibly angry, but Gabumon was eying the cold treat hungrily.  He hadn't had any desserts in a long time and it looked really delicious.

  Suddenly everything was broken by a voice.  "Losers!  Failures!" shouted Myotismon.  "I send you out to find the eighth child and you're eating ice cream!"

  Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon looked extremely frightened.  _Maybe he won't mind if we tell him it's stolen…_  "But it's stolen!" they exclaimed.

  "I don't care," said Myotismon.  "Now go and find the eighth digi-destined!"  _Must I really have to tell them to prove themselves worthy of me?  Now it's not them I'm mad at, it's actually Demidevimon… he was the one who organized my army.  Or those Bakemon who found them in the first place.  The two had better not fail me!_  "Redeem yourselves by stealing the crests from those children!"  He pointed at Matt and TK.

  "Uh… yes, sir, that was just about what we were going to do!" said Gotsumon.  Two pairs of angry eyes flashed at Matt, TK, and Gabumon, and Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon began chasing them quickly through the streets until they were cornered.  Gabumon prepared to fight as they looked at each other.

  "Aw, I quit," said Pumpkinmon.

  "Yah, me too," agreed Gotsumon.  They didn't want to fight anyone, because they knew they were better off just having a good time.  And their idea of a good time was to cause mischief by playing around in casinos and clothing stores, not destroying a city at a time.

  "Why should we fight?  Someone always gets hurt," said Pumpkinmon, making a good point.

  Before Matt or TK could answer, a flash of lightning appeared, and Myotismon appeared with it.

  "Oh crap," muttered Gotsumon, backing away in fear.  [A/N: I managed to type "baking away in read" twice before I got it right.  Proves how good a typist I REALLY am… :P]  "Now we're in for it…"

  "Why haven't you gotten their crests?" questioned the vampire.

  Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon were too afraid to talk.  They were afraid what they said would get them punished.  But this time, it was what they DIDN'T say that got them punished.

  "You two have had your chance!  I condemn you to my dungeon in the digital world!" shouted Myotismon, preparing to attack.

  "PUMPKIN SQUASH!" shouted Pumpkinmon, huring a gigantic squash at his master, but the bats ate it.

  "ROCK FIST!"  Gotsumon hurled a bunch of rocks at Myotismon's chest, but they didn't have an effect because he was so strong and formidable.

  Suddenly, with one blast of his Crimson Lightning, the two digimon were not sent to his dungeon, but actually died and were sent somewhere.

  After the fight, which he had ALMOST won if it hadn't been for Angemon… Myotismon went back to his crypt that night and furiously set to work on his plans to get the eighth child into his clutches.  He wanted to handle everything personally.  He didn't know why, but it might be so he wouldn't kill any more henchmen than he needed to.

  There came a small knock on the door.  He didn't want to be bothered, but if Demidevimon had COMPETENT reinforcements…

  "Come in," said Myotismon, his eyes fixated on his plans.

  Gatomon entered the room.  "Master, I can't find the eighth child anywhere, so I'm very sorry," she apologized.  "I'm sorry I was such a failure to you…"  She looked up at Myotismon with her bright blue eyes, the ones he despised so much.  Just as he looked up.

  "Never look at me with those eyes," he growled, standing up and looming over the quivering cat digimon.  "I have told you so many times not to look at me with those eyes!  CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  He whipped Gatomon once, then twice with his Crimson Lightning, hearing every scream and confident that she had deserved every last whip.  He saw deep scratches appear in her skin, and Gatomon cried out even more.  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"   He whipped again and again until Gatomon was on the ground, bleeding and begging forgiveness.

  "Please… I'm sorry Lord Myotismon, forgive me!  I…  I won't look at you with those eyes again!" Gatomon cried, tears running down her cheeks.

  "I will give you one more chance," Myotismon said to Gatomon, very sternly.  "Next time you will be given a harsher punishment."

  Gatomon, with all the strength she could manage, dragged herself out of the room, whimpering every time she moved.

  _That Angemon is more powerful than I anticipated,_ thought Myotismon as he laid awake in his coffin that morning.  He would have been asleep but so many things were on his mind.  _If it hadn't been for him, then I'd have gotten the crests from those miserable little digi-destined brats.  And if Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon, those pitiful excuses for henchmen.  Why is everything still on my mind?  I know it is THEIR fault._

  He clutched the real Crest of Light, which was inactive.  He wasn't about to let it go without a fight.

  Then came yet something else: Wizardmon.  Myotismon was convinced the wizard was getting on his nerves by not only EXISTING, but helping Gatomon steal the crest.  When Wizardmon and Gatomon snuck down into his personal crypt to steal the crest from his coffin, he discovered them just in time.

  "What are you doing here?" he asked.

  "Nothing," replied Wizardmon.

  Myotismon knew what they were up to.  [A/N: That sentence was full o' typos before I changed it.  That's what happens when your fingers are cold 24/7…]  "If you are looking for something, maybe I can assist you," he said, pulling out the real crest.  He had anticipated them stealing the crest because Gatomon was so rebellious and… nice.  She would prbably find the eighth child herself and take the credit.  Possibly overthrow him.

  Wizardmon was incredulous.  "Another copy??!!"

  "Do you think I'd just leave the original lying around for thieves like you?" asked Myotismon as he took the phony crest and smashed it in his hand.

  "Hey!" shouted Wizardmon.  He tried to attack Myotismon, but he was just too strong for him.

  "Wizardmon!" shouted Gatomon.

  "I'm all right," said the wizard from the ground.

  But the vampire wasn't paying attention to Wizardmon still being alive and so determined.  He saw Gatomon staring at her with those eyes.  There was something about those damn eyes that made him want to—

  "Those eyes," he said to Gatomon.  "From the first time you looked at me with those eyes, I knew you'd turn against me, and that is why I had to teach you by punishing you.  I would have hurt you even more, but you became a good servant.  But I promise you I will not be so easy on you this time."  Wizardmon looked up from the ground.  "And do you think your betrayal will go unpunished, Wizardmon?"

  "How can I betray you when I never worked for you to begin with?" asked the wizard.

  "You little fool!" shouted Myotismon, furious at his smart remarks.  "GRISLY WING!"  A huge army of bats flew out from under his cape, lifted the two champion digimon off the ground and hurled them outside.  Myotismon followed them to finish the two off with his Crimson Lightning.

  "We really have to stay together," said Gatomon.

  "Those who play together lose together!" said Myotismon, laughing evilly.

  "I'm not afraid," said Gatomon.

  "You soon will be, you pathetic little traitor!"  More bats flew out from under his cape and started to chew Gatomon up.  Myotismon couldn't help but laugh as Gatomon cried for help and beg for mercy.  He savored every scream and high squeal she let out when a bat semed to just rip her tender flesh apart.  Then for good measure, he decided to whip Gatomon with his Crimson Lightning.  "Well, I hope you realize there's no safe place to hide during this lightning storm!"

  Gatomon cried out as the lightning hit her skin and made her fall helplessly to the ground.

  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!  I'll do away with you first, Wizardmon!"  He let out a whip of Crimson Lightning that picked Wizardmon up off the ground and just as he was about to let out another blast and kill him, Gatomon confronted him again.

  "Why don't you pick on somoeone one twnth your size!" shouted Gatomon.

  There were those eyes.  So sweet and hopeful… Myotismon hated those eyes.

  "There are those eyes again," said Myotismon.  "Not only are they filled with rebellion, but I can also see a glimmer of hope.  The hope that someday, your dreams will come true."

  "Right!" said Gatomon.  That little foolish cat.  "I believe in my dreams!  And that's how I made it this far!"

  "And just what exactly have you achieved?  You believe in your worthless friends.  And you believe that your dreams can come true.  Dreams do not exist for the stupid!"  _I have never had a dream since I digivolved.  I can't believe how those little rookies and champions are talking about their dreams and hopes.  The only dreams I wish for them to have are nightmares, the ones I am in._

  "If you believe in your dreams, then they can come true," persisted Gatomon.  "And to make my dreams come true, I only have to do one thing: defeat you!"

  "What?" Myotismon asked, more surprised that Gatomon had the nerve to stand up to him than say she was going to defeat him.

  "My dream is to return to my true identity.  The one I had before I met YOU!"

  "What do you mean, true identity?  Could it be that… you are the eighth digimon?  This changes everything!  Before I crush you, let me give you the pleasure of watching me destroy your wizard friend first!  GRISLY WING!"

  "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" shouted Wizardmon as millions of bats picked him up and dropped him in the water with a huge splash.  Gatomon got really mad and to make matters worse, Tai arrived with Greymon but Myotismon took care of all three of them.  He even declared that he was going to use Gatomon to find the eighth child.

  "That's not fair!" Tai shouted.

  "I don't play fair," said Myotismon.  He flew away with Gatomon and laughed.  He had killed two Birdramons with one stone.  He had not only gotten rid of that pest Wizardmon, but got Gatomon incredibly upset and in hot water.  If she were to mess up, he would have her head.  And Gatomon couldn't lie.

  Days flew by, and Myotismon knew he was drawing closer and closer to the eighth child.  Then one day, Demidevimon announced that he found the eighth brat.  Kari, as she was called, was brought to him and Gatomon.  He knew she was the eighth child, and there needed to be a way for Gatomon to fess up.  "Well Gatomon, is this the eighth child?" he asked in his most patient voice.

  Gatomon shook her head.

  "I have no need for this brat anymore," he declared.

  Then Demidevimon came flying up to him.  "Master Myotismon, we found the eighth child.  What do you want to do with her, Oh Evil One?"

  A few minutes later he was in the communications tower of the TV station with Phantomon and Gatomon.  Kari was in front of him, trembling.  "I've got you my pretty and your little cat too," he said to Kari, who backed away.  He saw Tai and Mimi riding Greymon towards the tower.  He didn't have much time to destroy her.  He started the interrogations, just to make sure he had the right one.  "Little girl, why have you chosen to show yourself?" he asked.  "Do you have any idea what's going to happen to you?"

  "I've got a guess," said Kari in a very small quivery voice.

  "Then why?" asked Myotismon.

  "Because you were hurting all those people.  Someone had to stop you from hurting innocent people!"

  At first he was taken aback by Kari standing up to him, but Myotismon realized she didn't know who she was talking to.  He smiled.  "My, what a thoughtful little girl you are," he said, his voice dripping with sugary sweetness.  He looked at Gatomon.  "Why won't you look at the eighth child's face?"

  "Because she's not the eighth child," lied the cat digimon.

  Myotismon saw right through that lie.  "Who is she then?"

  "I have never seen her in my life."

  _There are ways of making them admit,_ he thought to himself.  "Is that so?"  He snapped his fingers, and Demidevimon started pulling Kari's hair.  Kari screamed really loudly.

  "Kari!  NO!" shouted Gatomon, unaware she had made a HUGE mistake.

  "Kari.  Interesting you know her name," said Myotismon.  "Since you never met her before."

  "Kari!" shouted Gatomon, struggling free of the vampire's strong grasp.

  "Together again, too bad it'll be short lived," said Myotismon, preparing to attack.  Suddenly Kabuterimon arrived and spoiled the whole thing, followed by Lillymon.  They both attacked, but Myotismon made sure the attacks didn't hit him.  "It's getting a little noisy in here, why don't we go someplace queiter?"  He floated up through the roof of the tower with Phantomon, Kari, and Gatomon.

  And then Matt and WereGarurumon showed up to defend that child.  He was followed by Sora and Garudamon in the air.  Kabuterimon digivolve to Megakabuterimon, but that didn't stop Myotismon.  He fought the attacks and couldn't be stopped by them.  Suddenly, Wizardmon caught his eye.

  "You're still alive?" asked Myotismon, getting the feeling he was outnumbered.

  "That's right" said Wizardmon.  "And it will take more than the likes of you to destroy me!"  He sent out a sphere, forcing the wizard to fly against the wall.  One down, two to go.  Kari and Gatomon.  Which one to take on next?  "Now give that crest to me you little brat," he said to Kari, his voice dripping with venom instead of sugar.

  "NO!" screamed Kari.

  "That wasn't a request," said Myotismon.  He wanted to kill Kari right then and there and finish Gatomon off last.  Punishment for being the way she was.  She would watch her two friends die, and then she would go with them.

  And suddenly, Tai showed up on Greymon.  He shouted, "You just picked on the wrong guy's little sister, Fang Face!  Here, catch!"  He threw the digivice to Kari, but Demidevimon caught it.  Good.

  Phantomon attacked, but Greymon digivolved to Metalgreymon, making Phantomon back away.  He was a bigger coward than anyone thought.  But Myotismon was not a coward.  He would rather die brave than take over the world as a coward.  He didn't dodge the attacks, no matter how many were aimed at him.  He was too strong for a group of ultimates, despite being one himself.  Suddenly, as he was about to use his Nightmare Claw on all of them, TK nodded at Patamon.

  "Patamon, digivolve to… ANGEMON!"

  "Now what?" asked Myotismon.  He wasn;t about to let an angel take him down.  Angemon was only a champion and he was an ultimate.  Still, he almost beat him in Shinjuku.

  "HAND OF FATE!" shouted Angemon.  Myotismon shielded himself with his cape, and the attack hit Phantomon, making him disintegrate.  If it could do that to any ultimate, it could do that to him.  But he was too powerful for the Hand of Fate, wasn't he?  He unshielded himself, shaking from the attack.

  "Have you had enough or do you want some more?" asked the angel.

  Myotismon gathered his courage and decided he wouldn't let a stupid punch destroy him.  "I was about to ask you the same question.  GRISLY WING!"

  It headed straight towards Angemon, with the bats about to chew him up.  As they ripped his wings apart, the angel came plummeting to the ground.  Kari, Gatomon, and Wizardmon, as well as the other digi-destined and their digimon, saw all this.

  _I can't let this happen,_ thought TK.  _It happened with Devimon, but I'm not going to let this happen again!  I know Angemon will come through… I hope I have enough hope for him!_  Suddenly his crest began to glow a brilliant yellow.

  "What the bloody hell?" said Myotismon, shielding himself with his cape.  Angemon began to glow a bright yellow and glow as well.

  "Angemon, digivolve to… MAGNA ANGEMON!"  Where Angemon was lying on the ground injured, Magna Angemon was flying in the air, holding the sword Excalibur and his eight white wings shining in the sunlight.  He was surrounded by an aura of gold.

  "It can't be!" shouted Myotismon.

  "Yes it is," said Tai.  "I think you're outnumbered, vampire boy!"

  "GRISLY WING!"  Myotismon let out an army of bats at the angel to prove that a stupid little digivolution and a few extra wings weren't going to stop him.  Still, the light made the bats fly away and back towards their master.

  "Myotismon, this world you have inflicted terror upon is your last," declared Magna Angemon, taking his sword.  "GATE OF DESTINY!"  He made a circle of light with his sword, which turned into a golden gate inscribed with digicode.  The gate opened to reveal a white digital tunnel to another dimension, and the bats were sucked in.

  Myotismon tried his hardest not to get sucked into the gate as Gatomon, Wizardmon, and Kari made a mad scramble for the inside and Lillymon hung onto Metalgreymon's horn.  He tried to find something to hold onto and tried to stay rooted to the ground, but since he was so thin he was also light, so he was lifted off the ground and flew towards the gate.  There was a loud sucking noise like a tornado behind him, and suddenly he saw the doors in front of him.  He turned around and tried to fly out as quickly as he could, whipping it with his Crimson Lightning, but the doors didn't shatter.  Suddenly the golden doors slammed shut and turned around so nothing could escape or enter.

  The battle was over.  Angemon had digivolved.  Wizardmon was still alive.  Gatomon was with her digi-destined.  And Myotismon was trapped in the Gate of Destiny, about to enter the dimension on the other side: the Dark Ocean.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In the next chapter (I'm going to Seattle for about two weeks so there's not going to be any updates, but I will write it while I'm there!) what lies on the other side of the gate, in the Dark Ocean?  And there will be angst in the next chapter.


	2. The Dark Ocean

A/N: ANGST ALERT!  This chapter is not for the little kids, but there's nothing in here that deserves anything worse than a PG-13 rating.  This doesn't mean I don't like dear Myo, because **he's still my favorite**.  Either this chapter will have it so you say "Ha!  He deserves that!" or "Man, I feel sorry for him…"  Either way is fine with me, but I prefer the "Man, I feel sorry for him…"  OK, I know I used the title before… **Myotismon is my favorite and I wouldn't have it any other way!  Angst and character bashing are totally different things.  This is angst, not bashing.**  Also, thanks to blackmage718, Sabrina Black, BC, Taichi Princess, Chibigreenwizardmon, Blackout12, Avalon, Angel of the Dark, and DuchessRaven for their reviews!  ^_^  WOO!  I'M POPULAR!!!  :)  I don't own the quotes from "Gatomon Comes Calling" or "Sora's Crest of Love"! **Extra-long chapter!**

Chapter 2

The Dark Ocean

  The Dark Ocean.  Once a place where human souls traveled personally, it was now the limbo— or even a hell— for dark digimon.  It was mostly a vast infinite ocean of metallic black waters, but it also had a small, overcrowded continent in the middle.  The only shelters were the places beneath the trees, the caves, and the one lighthouse on a small peninsula, emitting black light and shining it through the fog in the gray sky.  Marinedevimon ruled the entire Dark Ocean in his underwater cave, and Daemon said he ruled the land with his demon corps.  If a digimon entered the Dark Ocean, they could never come out.

  Myotismon arrived by falling from the sky into the ocean with a huge splash.  He felt the pull of the cold current against him and pulling him down and the freezing water compressing his chest.  Suddenly he hit a huge rock that was sticking out of the water and grabbed hold of it, climbing onto it and holding on.

  The water was still rushing against him in an attempt to push him away.  He was soaked and freezing, with the water dripping from his hair onto his face and his suit and cape clinging to his skin.  He was extremely weak from the battle, and it was as if the water was draining him of his energy.

  Suddenly the water began to form huge crashing waves that attempted to get him off the rock and drown in the ocean, to die and never return.  A huge and familiar shape appeared where the waves were the smallest and the water was deepest.  As it rose out of the water, it turned around and its yellow eyes stared right at him. Suddenly, Marinedevimon was almost completely out of the water.

  "Well well well," he boomed.  "I don't believe my eyes.  The high and mighty Myotismon was sent through Magna Angemon's gate."

  Myotismon refused to say a word.  He hung his head in shame.

  "What's the matter?  Couldn't defeat those digi-destined?" asked Marinedevimon.

  "I would have if it hadn't been for that… that… angel," said Myotismon.  "This time I wish I would have attacked Kari and Gatomon."

  "It's all history now," said the water demon.  "There is no way you can change the past.  And since you're in the Dark Ocean, you will never forget the past, either!"  He lifted one of his tentacles out of the water and wrapped it around the vampire's waist.  Then he lifted him out of the water and brought him close to where his face was supposed to be.  "I've been watching you for years from in here.  And I have seen that you were a master… no, more like… slave driver to the smaller digimon."  He paused as Myotismon looked at him, pleading with his eyes not to do anything to him.  "For instance, Wizardmon.  He was very innocent, and you have really been nasty towards him since the day you met.  And I remember… one of the last things you did to him was throw him into the lake, where he was rescued by one of the digi-destined."

  "You're not…" said Myotismon.

  "Yes I am," replied Marinedevimon.  He whipped the tentacle around a bit and hurled Myotismon into the ocean.

  He landed with a huge splash, and something seemed to be pulling him down towards the bottom of the ocean.  It turned out that a long piece of seaweed had wrapped itself around one of his hands and was pulling him towards the bottom.  He needed air and was incredibly cold.  Despite being freezing beyond belief, Myotismon tried his best to tear the seaweed apart and swim to the surface.  He took his free hand and attempted to untie himself, but it got wrapped in the seaweed as well.  Suddenly he got an idea.  He brought his hands up to his face and used his fangs to tear the seaweed apart.  It worked for a bit, but he couldn't do it without tearing his own skin apart.  So he tried to break them apart with his feet and it worked, though his gloves came off with the seaweed and sank to the bottom.  Myotismon tried to swim up to the surface despite hardly knowing how to swim before.

  Just as he reached the surface, gasping for air, Marinedevimon swung one of his tentacles at the vampire, giving him a hard blow to the head, knocking the wind out of him and dragging him to the bottom.  "Don't you ever die?" the water devil boomed, chuckling to himself.  Myotismon was still able to hear his every taunt. "What's the matter?  Not deep enough for the likes of you?"  He dragged Myotismon down to the bottom of the abyss, securing him down with his tentacle.  He couldn't breathe as water rushed into his mouth and compressed his chest.

  "No!  Please, stop!" pleaded Myotismon with the last of his much-needed air.

  "What?  Oh dear, I can't hear you.  Speak up a little more?" shouted Marinedevimon.

  Suddenly a red figure floated up to Marinedevimon.  "All right, I believe he's had enough," he told Marinedevimon, who quickly dragged him up with his tentacle.  "I have all I need."  The pendant around his neck started to glow crimson.

  As Myotismon gasped for his much needed air, he stared right into the orange glowing eyes of a digimon a bit larger than himself who was floating in the air and wearing a red-and-purple cloak that covered his entire body, and so his face was hidden by a black shadow.  He had horns and had an eye pendant around his neck.

  "I suppose you are wondering who I am," said the digimon.  "I am Lord Daemon, ruler of the land of the Dark Ocean.  And who might you be?"

  "I am Lord Myotismon, the vampire lord of Server and future king of the real and digital worlds," replied Myotismon.  "It seems as if this place would be a good place to rule too."

  "Real and digital worlds, you say?" said Daemon.  "When you are in the Dark Ocean?  Where there is no escape.  HA!  Not likely.  And look at you.  Drenched, powerless, and without your minions.  Too tired to attack, and so vulnerable now."

  "I'll show you vulnerable!" shouted Myotismon.  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  He let out a huge whip of Crimson Lightning that just hit Daemon and did nothing, not even singe his robes.

  "Just like you thought you were…" said Daemon.  "All your power is mine.  Try to attack a rookie, and it will only laugh at you and its mere pink bubbles will burst and knock you unconscious.  You may be at the ultimate stage, but you're weaker than a baby digimon."  The eye in the pendant glowed a bright crimson.  "All the power you ever had is in this eye, and now it's MINE!"

  "No!  I need my power to live!" shouted Myotismon, trying to reach out but sink in the water.

  "You need your power to live, huh?" taunted Daemon.  "Well that's why I've taken it away from you!"  He darkly chuckled to himself as Marinedevimon sank down to his underground lair at the bottom of the Dark Ocean.  "You have always been stronger than me, Myotismon," he continued.  "And now I am stronger than you.  With your power, I am invincible and can do great evil things and not only control all the Dark Ocean, but Earth and Digiworld as well.  And was that not YOUR ultimate goal?"

  And then, before the vampire could say a word, Daemon formed a huge whip of Crimson Lightning— HIS Crimson Lightning— and whipped him with it and sent him flying across the water until he was halfway to land.

  He was on his knees like a little child, so drained of his power.  He couldn't even stand up without falling back in the water.  Shaking, he attempted to stand up but fell right back in the water, hitting the sharp rocks on the bottom and almost drowning if not for the low water level.

  Daemon appeared next to him and pulled him out of the water by his cape.  "Look, you can't even stand up correctly!" he taunted, letting go of Myotismon and making him fall back into the water, this time head-first.  "I have ALL your power!  Yes, I even have your bats.  I can use Grisly Wing on you, and the bats won't even know about it!  The one with the power is their master!"

  "What do you want with me?" asked Myotismon, looking up at Daemon.

  "NEVER LOOK AT ME WITH THOSE EYES!" shouted the red demon digimon.  "I can't stand those eyes!  CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  He brandished a whip of Crimson Lightning and swung it around a few times before whipping the vampire across his back and causing him to shout out in pain.  "There, how do you like that?  I'm just like you now, you see!  I love being you and able to push around digimon at a lower level.  Well, since I'm a mega and you're only a little ultimate… you will be my whipping mon.  Every time I'm in a foul mood, it is you I will whip.  It takes less work to whip one whose energy is already gone."

  Daemon stared at Myotismon.  He knew how he felt, but hey, it was OK for HIM to do so, because Myotismon kept whipping those digimon at a lower level than him, and even at the same level.  Still, the whipping mon shouldn't be dressed in a suit and cape… he could keep the mask.  Maybe something along the lines of what Demidevimon looked like or something… he couldn't look like he was at a higher rank than Daemon, could he?

  Suddenly Daemon just ripped the soaked cape off of Myotismon's suit, exposing the back of it.  Then he took off that red scarf that went around his neck, the bat clasp that held his cape together, and one of his belts, throwing all of them into the depths of the ocean.  Finally, he ripped off the top of the uniform, leaving Myotismon stripped down to his waist and even more vulnerable to attacks, then burned it with the Crimson Lightning.

  "Just the kind of whipping mon I want," said Daemon.  "Oh look, you're without your cape.  Isn't that your shield?"  He whipped Myotismon with the Crimson Lightning, and Myo collapsed back into the ocean.  "Oh, you look incredibly weary from your journey.  How about you get your rest for tomorrow?"  He threw a ball of smoke into the ocean, and Myotismon fell asleep.

  He woke up two hours later in the lighthouse on the cape.  Daemon, Devimon, LadyDevimon, and Icedevimon were standing by the side of his bed.

  "Why look what the Gatomon dragged in!" exclaimed Devimon.  "My own brother, condemned to live in the Dark Ocean!"  He laughed to himself.  "Did they mistake you for one of the devil digimon or something like that?"

  LadyDevimon sat on the bed and leaned over.  "Hello, handsome," she said.  "Mind if I take YOUR blood?"

  "Never!" shouted Myotismon, attempting to push LadyDevimon off of him.  But she was too heavy and he was too weak, so the vampire was unable to do anything but wince as LadyDevimon bit his neck and drank some of the blood that flowed out of the bite marks.

  "What's the matter, cutie?" asked LadyDevimon.  "Your blood tastes so rich and addictive, it's so impossible for me not to hate it!  You've done this a million times to pretty young girls…"  She backed away, a trail of red trailing from the corner of her mouth down her chin.  It looked quite familiar…

  Suddenly a vivid thought ran through Myotismon's mind… he was taking his nightly ride through the park in his dark stagecoach, when suddenly the scent of blood filled the air.  Suddenly he was aching to feed, and commanded the stagecoach to go faster.  Myotismon saw a young woman walking up the path, with hardly a thought in her mind except for going home.  He caught the scent of blood running through her veins, but not the scent of fear.  Fear seemed to improve the flavor.  It was much like a meal for humans.  Sure it tastes good when it's plain, but if you add just the right spices the flavor is improved tenfold.  Fear was just like a special spice for blood.

  "Ah, darkness," he thought to himself.  "The cloak for my evil.  Ideal conditions for producing fear.  Human blood always tastes better with a dash of fear in it." 

  Myotismon saw the woman stop on the pathway.  She was very beautiful with clear eyes, pale skin, and a face framed with wavy brown hair.  Suddenly she stopped in her tracks, petrified.  She knew something was coming.  An expression of terror crossed her face, and her heart beated incredibly fast.  Myotismon was able to smell the fear now.

  The stagecoach door opened, and the woman turned her head towards it to see who was inside.  She was hypnotized, and hoped that he wasn't the one she was afraid of.  The vampire saw her eying him and staring into his own eyes, not noticing he was advancing forward and eyeing her neck in a hungry sort of way, catching a strong scent of fear in her blood.

  The woman had the wrong idea.  She leaned in to kiss him, seeing how handsome he was.  Myotismon was leaning in too, his fangs gleaming in the moonlight.  Before the woman was able to touch her lips to Myotismon's, he sank his fangs into the tender flesh on her neck.  She screamed out, but no one was able to hear her except the birds that fly away.  Rich red blood flowed out of the two punctured wounds, with fear as an extra flavor.  Before the woman figured out what is going on, she fell unconscious as Myotismon drank the blood that flowed out and it poured down his throat, satisfying his thirst.  As soon as his thirst was satisfied, he let the woman fall to the ground without a second glance and boards his stagecoach, guiding it back to the headquarters.

  Demidevimon flew up to him.  "Hey, boss, where were you?"

  "I was just getting a bite to eat and getting familiar with the city," replied the vampire.  "It's so hard to find a good meal so far away from home…"

  It was that way for all the nights he was in Odaiba… he was taking a ride in his stagecoach through the park when suddenly a young woman came walking up the path, some frightened, some not frightened at all.

  One night he was drinking the blood of an extremely frightened young woman, with the flavor more rich and delicious than the blood of any other woman.  A young girl came running up the path and yelling "Mommy!  Mommy!"

  Myotismon looked up, with some blood trickling from the corner of his mouth down his chin, especially noticeable against his extremely pale blue skin.  He was extremely mad at the girl for ruining his meal as the blood trickled from the woman's neck and dotted the path below.

  "Get away from her!" shouted the girl, taking a stick off the ground and running towards Myotismon, ready to bash it against him.

  "You've chosen the wrong mon to mess with," said Myotismon in his calmest voice, grabbing the stick away from the girl.  "GRISLY WING!"  He sent out hundreds of bats at the girl, and he got away while they pulled on her hair and left scratches on her skin.  As soon as he was safe in the stagecoach, he snapped his fingers and the bats returned.

  The girl had been mauled to death, and was on the ground next to her mother.  Much of her skin was gone, and blood was pouring onto the ground.  It hurt for her even to move.  She cried out in pain for ten minutes before losing over half of her blood and taking her last breath.  And there was Myotismon, looking at the young girl.  He wiped the blood off his face and went back to his lair.

  He had thought nothing of the event until he saw LadyDevimon.  His eyes seemed wet with tears.  It seemed that the thought of all those women… and the girl who was just defending her mother… seemed to make Myotismon want to cry.  He didn't realize it, but they were helpless and innocent, with nothing to do with the digi-destined.

  _What have I done?_ he thought.  _I get my sustenance and I kill yet another human… I taste the blood now, but it doesn't have the flavor of fear.  It now has the aftertaste of shame and remorse._

  "Oh, are you short of words?" asked Daemon.  "Are you thinking of a master plan to get yourself out of the Dark Ocean?  You can't without defeating Marinedevimon first.  And to do that you'll have to get your power back…"  The orb around his neck glowed crimson, with little bat shapes flying around inside.  "You love your power, don't you?  You could make HIM go away!"

  Icedevimon suddenly wrapped his fingers around Myotismon's bare arms, spreading coldness and numbness through his entire body.  Energy also seemed to be drained out and seep through the ice devil's fingers, making him grow slightly larger.

  "And your bats are gone as well," added Daemon.  "So you're unable to attack with your Grisly Wing.  You still have your Crimson Lightning, but it is useless!"

  Myotismon tried to lift his arm and attack as a weak crimson glow formed around his hand, but Icedevimon held it against the bed.  He was growing even colder and felt his energy getting drained.  He felt like one of his victims… he was exactly like Wizardmon.  Every time the wizard was attacked, the vampire seemed to absorb his energy, and maybe drink his blood if no other victims were in the area…

  "NO!" he shouted.  "LET GO!"

  Icedevimon just chuckled to himself, then used some of his energy to fill the room full of ice and turn down the temperature drastically.  He finally let go as the room reached maximum coldness.  He pushed Myotismon out of the bed and onto the ice-covered floor and froze that as well.

  "There.  Now the room should match your heart," he said.  "I'm like you, Myotismon.  You have a heart of ice, if any at all.  And I, literally, have the same thing."

  "Why are you doing this to me?" moaned the ultimate digimon.

  "You think you can be nastier than us devil digimon," said Devimon.  "No mon should be eviller than we are.  Especially a vampire who can't settle for just one world: the digital world."

  "Or more powerful," added Icedevimon.  "Unfortunately, you are both.  Frozen are the damned."

  The four of them turned and left Myotismon alone in the room.  LadyDevimon returned and gave Myotismon a kiss that was much like acid and seemed to mock his seductive nature.

  Then Daemon opened the door and said, "If you would like something to occupy your time, the portal in the closet leads somewhere very interesting."  He slammed it shut, and then Icedevimon froze it shut, leaving Myotismon imprisoned in his frozen room and condemned to freezing to death if not suffering or starving.  Who knew how long he'd be left in there?

  Myotismon tried to stand up, but his arms and legs were considerably weaker after Icedevimon drained his energy.  His drainage of energy also showed physically.  He seemed to show a tired expression on his face and was also suffering from fatigue.  Also, his face had gone from pale blue to almost white.  If he slept in the room while it was frozen like this, he would freeze to death.  HE decided to take his chances in the portal in the closet.

  He grabbed a hold of the frozen bedpost and pulled himself up on it.  Then he stood up, supporting himself on the bed.  He went over to a drawer and took out the top of his suit and his cape, which were ruined and torn.  He weakly put them on for warmth purposes and opened the door that led to the portal.

  Inside the closet was a long metal platform that was suspended above an endless dark abyss, with purple smoke rising up from it.  Mounted on nothing were what looked like tubes.  There were about a hundred altogether.  Inside each of them was a digimon, sleeping or even dead.  They all looked familiar to Myo… among them were Gazimon, Floramon, Bakemon, Gekomon, Mushroomon, a few Gizamon, two Seadramon, a Scorpiomon, a Minotauromon, a BlackGatomon, and even Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon.  THE very Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon he had killed.  A few of them had messed up on his orders, and a few were brave enough to stand up to him, but most of them were there simply because they were useless or not powerful enough.

  "No, it can't be," said Myotismon, walking over to one of the tubes with a Bakemon in them.  "I don't remember most of these… possibly I do…"

  He could hear their screams of agony now, the very ones that they had screamed before they had died.

  "PLEASE!  Take pity on me!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"  "No, Lord Myotismon, I didn't mean it!"  "I promise I'll be of better use to you!"  "NO!  SAVE ME!  HAVE MERCY!"  "Please Lord Myotismon, Master Myotismon, have mercy!"  "NNNOOOOO!  DON'T KILL ME!"  "Whatever did I ever do to you?"  "HELP!  I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!"  "No!  Hear me, it was only an accident!"  "I promise I'll obey your orders!  Don't kill me!"  "Whatever I did, I won't do it again!"

  Those teary eyes… the quiver in their voice, the fear of death… their lives flashing in front of their eyes.  They all had desperate and fearful expressions on their faces… they were scared of him.  He was an ultimate unlike other ultimates, and a villain unlike others.  Not even a mega was brave enough to stand up to him, and not even Devimon killed his own henchmen in the blink of an eye.  Some of them were for extremely irrelevant things, like Gatomon and her eyes.

  "NO!" shouted Myotismon, clutching his hair.  "It can't be!  All the deaths I have caused for my henchmen have come back to haunt me!"

  Suddenly more and more tubes full of digimon appeared behind the ones of the henchmen.  There were hundreds of digimon in them.  Possibly thousands.  They were all the digimon he had ever killed, many of which were champions and ultimates.  There were even a few megas in the group.  All of them looked down on him with their eyes shut, but he knew that they were looking right at him.

  Myotismon backed away, but all the digimons' ghosts appeared in the realm.  They all landed in front of him on the platform, very angry.

  "So, you've made it to the Shadow Realm of the Dark Ocean," said a Gazimon, advancing on him.  "I didn't know you cared, you heartless fiend!"

  "He doesn't," said a Floramon.  "He's probably back to kill us again!"

  "It's nothing like that," said Myotismon, backing away.

  "Of course it is!  Why else would you be in the Dark Ocean with us?" asked the BlackGatomon.

  Then a dark portal opened at the end of the platform.  Taking his chances, Myo ran his fastest into the portal.  Unlike the Gate of Destiny, he didn't get sucked in.  Instead, he turned transparent, just like a ghost.  And only he could see himself.

  "Where did he go?" wondered one of the Bakemon.

  "Maybe he got sucked into hell, where he will rot for eternity like he should," replied BlackGatomon.

  "Or he just disappeared," said Minotauromon.  "We'll be here when he comes back.  We can do a lot more than be transparent."

  The ghosts seemed to dissolve into the air, waiting for him to return.  Myotismon let out a sigh of relief as the portal closed behind him without a sound, leaving him entombed in pure darkness.  He used to love the darkness, practically worshipping it.  It was his element, perfect for producing fear.  For what could produce fear better than dark surroundings, with no one to protect you, when suddenly a real vampire arrives for your blood?  But now, Myotismon was feeling extremely uncomfortable in the darkness.  It seemed to symbolize his blackened heart.  Even he was starting to feel afraid.

  That was when bright images flew in front of his eyes.  Normally he would shield himself with his cape to protect his sensitive skin from the light, but now he seemed used to the light.  Maybe even want the light to be there.  The bright images whirled around then stopped to reveal Primary Village.

  "Maybe I was supposed to come here to be reborn again, to mend my ways," Myotismon said to himself.

  Elecmon walked into the village from the woods, hauling a huge net full of fish with him.  It was the babies' feeding time.  "Here you go," he said, dumping the fish out.  "Eat up!"

  All the baby digimon stampeded towards Elecmon, including one that didn't look more than a few weeks old.  It was a black Poyomon with bright blue eyes like the ocean, full of laughter and delight.  He was smiling and eager to eat his dinner.  Just as he neared the net, one of the large Botimon shoved him out of the way.

  "Boti!  Out of the way, misfit!" squeaked the Botimon.

  Still, Poyomon wasn't about to let one little comment ruin his dinner.  He floated over to a half-eaten fish.  That was when a Punimon jumped in front of it.

  "Hey!" squeaked Punimon.  "This is my fish!  Get your own!"

  Poyomon looked a bit crestfallen as he looked around and saw little baby digimon sharing fish with others.  Even other Poyomons.  Still the black Poyomon was refused by every crowd and when he got to the net there were only the unwanted remains of fish.

  "Hey, don't worry," said Elecmon.  "Not everyone gets something.  Maybe you'll get your fill at tomorrow's breakfast."  He walked away and grabbed a huge rubber ball and tossed it to the crowd of baby digimon.  "Who wants to play catch?"

  A chorus of "ME!"s uprose from the crowd, including the black Poyomon.

  "No, not him!" shouted the Pabumon that was standing next to him.  "He's not normal!  He's a black Poyomon, and he's evil!  Black is evil!"

  Everyone seemed to agree.  The black Poyomon was forced to sit out against the tree with the others who didn't want to play.  They edged away from him and left him alone to watch everyone have fun.

  "Is that me?" wondered Myotismon.  "Am I the black Poyomon who no one wanted or respected?"  He floated over to the black Poyomon, who paid no attention to him because he was inconspicuous to everyone except himself in the ghost form.

  "Why don't they want me?" the black Poyomon wondered out loud.  "Is it because I'm not a normal-colored Poyomon?  I want them to respect me.  I notice they respect Elecmon because he's the leader.  Maybe if I controlled the entire digital world, every digimon will respect me and know who I am.  They'll all pay for what they did to me."

  "No!" shouted Myotismon.  "You'll regret it!"  Suddenly the scene of Primary Village dissolved to reveal another scene.  He had digivolved to Demidevimon, only a different sort of Demidevimon that was black.  The inside of his wings were red, and his eyes were blue.  Instead of being an ocean-blue sea of joy, they looked more like a steel-blue, much like his own.  He seemed to not have any hope, unlike when he was Poyomon.  Was this why he hated Gatomon's eyes?  They reminded him too much of his own, before the other baby digimon shunned him.  He, as Demidevimon, had a chain around its leg.  There was a green digimon that had the body of a dragon and a snake and the head of what might have been a human with a scaly dragon mask.  It was pacing back and forth on the other side of the room.

  "So, you failed me again, Demidevimon.  For the last time!" shouted Toxidramon in his scratchy voice.  He neared Demidevimon.

  "I'm not afraid of you," said Demidevimon.  "You can't hurt me!"

  "Your friends have abandoned you," said Toxidramon.  "So why are you standing up to me without your little rookie friends to back you up?"

  Demidevimon refused to reply.

  "Why do you not reply to me?" asked the dragon digimon.  "You must reply to me now."

  Suddenly Myotismon began to see himself in Toxidramon's place, and Kari in place of Demidevimon.

  "You are a very foolish rookie.  I command you to reply to me, by my order!  As the future ruler of the digital world, it is required that you respect me as if I am that ruler now."

  Myotismon hung his head in shame.  He shouldn't have stood up to the Toxidramon.

  "TOXIC CRUSHER!"  Toxidramon forced a poisonous blast out at Demidevimon, who flew back against the wall.  "That should teach you not to fail me."

  Demidevimon groaned.  "Some day," he muttered, "I will be the one controlling the digital world and even Toxidramon will be at my mercy!"

  Myotismon knew seeing his life and how he was provoked to control the digital world couldn't get any worse, when suddenly he felt a searing pain between his eyes.  Underneath his mask.  He had remembered why he wore the mask.  It was the red lightning-bolt shaped scar that was the source of his Crimson Lightning attack.  It had faded over time, but was still there.  The scar was also felt in his blackened heart.  And now it was visible again.  The scar appeared when Toxidramon attacked him for standing up to him.

  That was when it got worse, much worse.  Images flashed before Myotismon's eyes.  This time, they were of himself.  His face was emotionless, and he didn't appear to care about what happened to any of his henchmen.

  "Never look at me with those eyes!  CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  Myotismon saw himself whip Gatomon countless times with his Crimson Lightning until she was struggling to get on her knees, begging for mercy.

  "Please, no, Lord Myotismon!  Forgive me!" shouted Gatomon, tears streaming down her face.

  Then another image.  It was of him and Demidevimon, after the debacle at the palace with the grumpy Shogun Gekomon and Mimi making her crest glow.

  "Didn't you say you knew what would happen if you failed?" asked Myotismon, relishing the scene before his eyes.  Demidevimon was dangling about a foot over a fire by one leg, heavily sweating from the fire and struggling to break free.

  "Well I didn't exactly say I KNEW knew but if it isn't much trouble can I bother you for a glass of water?" asked Demidevimon.

  "You failed me, you miserable little excuse for a Demidevimon!" shouted Myotismon.  He was holding the chain, and he pulled it so the chain that suspended Demidevimon over the fire lowered him two inches.  Demidevimon was struggling even more to break free.  "You know the consequences!"

  "I won't fail you again!" he pleaded, beginning to cry.  "Please don't lower me down any more!  I'm hot and I'M GONNA DIE!"

  Myotismon darkly chuckled to himself, and he made the chain go one inch lower.  The fire was just licking Demidevimon's head and wings.  "Seeing you writhe for your life is so delicious," he said to Demidevimon, who was actually crying and begging for mercy.

  "I cannot believe what I've done to him," said Myotismon as a tear ran down his pale face.  He saw himself do nothing as he sat back in his throne where he watched torture from the torture chamber, now with a glass of wine in his hand.  "I can't believe how cruel I've been to my most loyal henchmon!"

  The scene fast-forwarded to an hour later.  Demidevimon was now gasping for water and crying out from the heat.  Much of him was covered with ashes.  "Please… I need water… I'm thirsty…"

  The vampire got up from his throne, still holding the chain, and poured a glass of very bitter wine used only for the purpose of quenching the thirst of his torture victims.  "Here, drink this!" he shouted, shoving the contents into Demidevimon's mouth.

  Demidevimon coughed and sputtered.  "Please… take pity on me!  I know I have failed you three times when I tried to make the crests glow…"

  Still Myotismon was not going to take this sincere apology for an answer to why his plans failed.  So he flung him down the stairs, where he cried out even more.  "Because of your stupidity all of my evil plans have failed!" he said.

  "Forgive my mistakes, Master Myotismon!  I beg of you!" Demidevimon cried.

  "Courage.  Hope.  Friendship.  The children's crests are beginning to glow.  One by one!" said Myotismon.

  "Everyone makes mistakes," said Demidevimon.  "Remember disco?  Besides, sir, not all the children's crests are beginning to glow yet."  He flapped his wings and it produced an image of a doleful Sora and Biyomon.  "That girl has the Crest of Love!  And it's still not glowing thanks to me!  Anyway, she'll be meeting up with the other children very soon.  And when she does, Master Myotismon, that's when I'll get them!"

  Myotismon seemed to lighten up.  "You think you can?  If you fail me again, my bats will have a new chew toy.  YOU!"  He turned back and left.

  "What an atrocious fiend I have been," said Myotismon as he saw himself attack Wizardmon because he was with Gatomon.  There was one scene he remembered more than when he threw him into the lake, and that was after he left and Gatomon was out to find more henchmen.

  "Remember, Gatomon, do not fail me," he had told the poor cat digimon.  Fear was in her eyes, as she tried her best not to make eye contact.  She bowed to him respectfully, then left.

  Gatomon had acquired a digimon for him, but he was the one that Myotismon had least expected.  He made his Bakemon open the sack the digimon was in, and out tumbled Wizardmon.  He was furious at this because Wizardmon had betrayed him after what he did to make him digivolve.  So furious he had whipped both Gatomon AND Wizardmon.

  "You are a TRAITOR!" he had yelled at Wizardmon while whipping him with his Crimson Lightning.  And he actually enjoyed hearing him cry out in pain.  "I gave you the chance to be powerful and you turned your back on me and attacked me!  Wizardmon, your life will come to an end!"  He gave him three final whips, savoring the cries.  He returned to his throne, seething mad.  He really wished Wizardmon was dead.

  "He's not dead," said Myotismon as the scene dissolved.  "He's still alive, and in Odaiba with Kari and Gatomon.  I am surprised he is even alive after all the nasty things I have done to him."  He hung his head in shame.  "I wish I could have changed the past… but it is possible to change the future."  As he floated in the vast dark universe which was his blackened mind and heart, he knew he must change his ways.  And it was his choice.  Myotismon was beginning to turn away evil and darkness, and towards hope and light.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I think all of my Digimon fics are connected in some way, and I didn't even realize it.

And I'm SO glad I got this done before the trip!  ^_^  Please… tell me what you think!  In the next chapter, Myo-kun just might change his ways after what he experienced.  **WIZARDMON IN NEXT CHAPTER!**  And now… Athena leaves you for vacation to not Seattle on Monday, but Tuesday due to something that came up.  Will be back in about 1½ weeks!  Maybe I'll even get the third chapter up by then!


	3. No Longer Blackened Heart

A/N: I'm back!  OK, here's chapter 3.  **MORE ANGST!**  **FLASHBACKS HERE TOO!**  BTW, for more angst, read both Forever Virus fics!  (Not Myotismon angst, it's Wizardmon angst, which I also like writing!)  OK, this will DEFINITELY have Wizzy in it, but not until near the end.  Sorry this took so long, there was the trip and then there was MARCHING BAND DRILL WEEK!  (Oh and if you're wondering I'm a flutist!  And the song/movements/ensemble thingy we're playing is called "Medusa."  One of the movements is called… "Athena's Rage!"  Which is what I feel when I can't get anything played right… :P)  My fingers hurt because I practiced SO much lately… my lips do too… and I have a painful sunburn… but that won't stop me from talking or writing fics!  Well, maybe talking!  But not stopping writing, and DEFINITELY not stopping mastering the art of annoying cliffhangers!  Here's chapter 3.

Chapter 3

No Longer Blackened Heart

  A month had passed sice Myotismon had entered the Dark Ocean.  He had not only gone through some emotional changes and changes of heart, but a drastic physical change as well.  A very obvious change, the one one would probably notice first, was his build.  He had gone from lanky yet well-muscled to skinny and gaunt.  His muscles had almost completely withered away from a lack of food and energy.  His face, though still handsome, was not as handsome as it was before he entered since the color had been drained away and his cheeks sunk in.  His hair had grown out and became filthy and scraggly, but Myo didn't care.  His back was covered with whip marks that became pinkish-white scars over time.  Still, the biggest difference of all, though not the most obvious, was Myotismon's blue eyes.  Instead of ice blue eyes that could send shivers down one's spine in an instant, they were much like Gatomon's.  Blue pools of hope.

  A month ago, Myotismon never believed in dreams.  In the Dark Ocean, nightly, he did have dreams full of hope, redemption, and forgiveness.  A month ago, he pushed everyone around.  But now he was willing to work for Daemon to pay the price for what he had done.  He had changed.

  Every day was a nightmare.  Every night was short and full of hopeful dreams that he would change completely and be forgiven.

  At the beginning of each day, which seemed to be the same no matter what, Myotismon was kicked awake.  Instead of being in his casket in his castle in the digital world, where he was used to being, he was in a prison cell in Daemon's castle, much like the way his slaves lived in his castle.  He remembered the cells being smaller in his castle.  A lot smaller.  He even stuffed more than one in each.  Everything seemed to reflect on the way he treated his own servants.

  "Wake up!" shouted a deep voice.  "We have a lot of work to do today!"  Then the poor ultimate digimon was kicked in the side and nearly got the wind knocked out of him.

  "I'm… I'm awake," said Myotismon, turning over and seeing that Devimon was kicking him awake.  His own brother… turning against him.

  Maybe he had turned against his own brother first.  He had never liked Devimon, probably because the devil digimon was a true devil, unlike him.  Myotismon was only a vampire.  Devimon always seemed to accomplish more.  He had taken over Infinity Mountain and was actually in the process of taking over File Island.  Back then, he wanted to take over more.  Back when he was Demidevimon, Devimon made a bargain with him.  If Myo worked for him, then he would get a small bit of the credit after Devimon took over.

  "Never," said the black Demidevimon.  "I want everything for myself!"

  Himself.  He was so self-centered.  One of the things Myotismon loved the most was himself.  Even as a rookie and a champion he loved himself, and that never changed.  Myotismon was incredibly handsome, and the bad part about it was that _he knew it_.  He had spent many an hour making himself presentable, despite staying in his castle most of the day.  Not a strand of hair was out of place, except for the three strands that fell in his face no matter how many times he combed them back.  And even in those stray strands of hair, it was all in place.  Dressing in a neatly pressed suit… making sure that the metal on his boots were shiny enough… he knew appearance was 50% of the right requirement for ruling Digiworld, and Earth.

  The worst part was the scar that he was given when he was still Devidramon.  Every night when he was Devidramon, Myotismon wished he had something to hide the past.  If his servants knew he had been pushed around by another digimon, they wouldn't want to work for him.  That was why he wore the mask he donned every day.  It really fooled the servants.  The mask looked just right, and it seemed to give him some mystique, and no one knew what was underneath it.

  But everything changed when he worked for Daemon.  Appearance didn't seem to matter anymore.  His hair definitely showed it.  And covering up the past didn't seem to matter, either.  Myotismon constantly went without his mask.  No one seemed to care about the scar that spanned between his eyes; they all thought Daemon had given it to him or were too busy working to notice.

  Throughout the day, everything the demon digimon did seemed to mock him in every way.  His torture methods; his stone-heartedness; his seductive nature.   He was whipped countless times if he didn't do a back breaking job well enough.  It seemed for every time Myotismon had whipped his henchmen, he was whipped by Daemon and the crew.

  At first, Myo was rebellious and determined to make them stop.  "I've had enough!" he shouted, trying to grab the lightning out of Icedevimon's hand.  It wrapped around his wrist and he pulled Icedevimon onto the floor.

  "Haven't you been taught anything, slave?" Daemon asked, pulling out his own version of the lightning.  He cracked the whip and whipped the vampire across the back with it.  "If you can't pull your weight for me, then you must pay the price!"  He whipped again, and a third time, with each lash more powerful and painful than the last.

  _It will be over soon,_ thought Myotismon.  He knew that for nearly every time he whipped his henchmen, he was whipped by the demon digimon.  And to make matters worse, it was HIS Crimson Lightning, the very whip he used to torture his own slaves.  Every time the whip lashed his skin open and made a new river of blood flow down his already-scarred back, and maybe open a wound, the vampire got a mouthful of his own bitter medicine.

  And later, as time went by, Myotismon knew he deserved every single whipping he got.  It was as if he was actually choosing to repay the debt.  If he hadn't tortured and even killed his henchmen and myriad other digimon… he brought this upon himself.  He didn't even want to get revenge on Angemon.  If he wasn't sent through the Gate of Destiny, the vampire would still be his evil self, trying to plot a takeover of the digital and real worlds and become king of the dark worlds.

  Myotismon rarely ate anymore, which made him so much thinner than he was before.  Blood was his sustenance, as it had always been in his ultimate form.  Blood had lost its appeal.  How normal foods, like the fruit and fish he had eaten as Devidramon, were more appealing.  Still, every morning and evening, Ladydevimon bent her head down and exposed her neck.  Then she grabbed Myotismon around the head and opened his mouth so wide it hurt.  She sunk her sharp talon-like fingernails into his face and thrusted his head into her neck, so the fangs sunk in.

  "Oh, that feels good!" she shouted, ascending into her own world of pleasure.  "Oh, oh… oh… ah…"  Ladydevimon moaned as she grew lightheaded.  She wrapped her arms around Myotismon's waist, drawing him closer to her.

  But Myo had felt differently about all this.  As he sunk his fangs into the gray flesh, he moaned in agony as all the memories he had of mesmerizing women in the park flashed in front of his face.  They had fallen in love with him, and did he know?  Did he ever have a soft spot for the women?  Or the little girl who had been mauled to death from the bats?

  He remembered the mauled girl the most.  Still, all the memories of all the women who had died because of him were flooding back by the minute as LadyDevimon's blood gushed out of the wounds and poured down his throat.  It tasted rotten and spoiled, much like sewer water.  Even the piece of stale bread and water given to the other henchmen seemed appealing.  That seemed to be all Myotismon had given his henchmen.  Some days he let them go hungry.  It wasn't his job to feed them, but he ordered one of his Bakemon to feed them whenever he felt like it.  He moaned as the bitter fluid gushed down his throat.  Then he coughed and sputtered.

  "What's the matter?" asked LadyDevimon.  "Didn't you enjoy your meal?  It was prepared special for you!"  She laughed.  "I guess I'm not good enough for you!"  Then the demon lady left the cell.

  Every night was also the same.  Starving and aching from yet another torturous day, Myotismon laid back on the hard stone floor, with cold air from the wind that blew over the Dark Ocean blowing onto him.  It did not help that the only thing he was wearing was his pants and a belt, and maybe his torn top on cold days.  He could never sleep.  It was from the pain in his heart.  Every night was a different reflection on his life.

  The biggest reflection was the night his bats had killed the innocent child.  He still remembered the little girl…  the way she was crying on the ground, it hurting to move… no longer a girl, but a misshapen human covered with blood, with most of her skin chewed away… holding out her arms and crying out for someone to help her and in pain… and he only watched as it happened.

  Afterwards, after Myotismon returned to his headquarters, he relished the scene.  "How I love seeing those little human bastards die and scream for their lives while they're at it…" he mused.  "It is so delicious… too bad there are so many more like her out there.  So many more little brats who try to beat me up with a flimsy little stick.  PHANTOMON!"

  Phantomon, one of his most trusted advisers, entered the room.  "Yes, Lord Myotismon?" he asked in his wavery voice.  He had been taught to add "Lord" to the name because anyone who didn't address him correctly would be punished.  He was either used to it, or acted out of fear.

  "We must defeat the children," growled the vampire.  "Not only the digi-destined, but all the little humans… pesky little brats who only think of themselves and think they can just push anyone around.  I wish for you to kill every child who tries to stand up to me!"

  "B-b-but Lord Myotismon," stammered Phantomon, "I do not wish to sound like I disapprove of your idea, but do you not think this is going a little far?"

  "SILENCE, SLAVE!" boomed Myotismon, scaring Phantomon and forcing him to hover back a few feet.  He started to pace back and forth on the floor.  "You can never go too far when you become king of all the worlds.  What are little human lives worth, anyway?  No lower than that of a slave's.  When they start to rebel or lose their usefulness, you must dispose of them in the right way.  Now you must come with me to their convention center.  Every time you see a child standing up to me in any way, I wish for you to kill them right away!  If you fail, you surely will be punished.  I have yet another task for you.  Every time you see a child, I want you to take him or her to the convention center."

  "Y-y-yes, master," said Phantomon, bowing respectfully and leaving the study.

  The vampire sat back in his throne with a glass of wine.  He decided to call in another one of his henchmen.  That was the night he planned to take care of the children by capturing them and their families in the convention center.  "GATOMON!" he shouted.

  The cat digimon walked into the room, surely without impunity.  She refused to make eye contact with her master for fear of him giving her a severe whipping across the back.  "Yes, master?" she asked weakly.

  "I have plans for tomorrow," said Myotismon, glaring at that cat.  "I wish for you to fulfill them.  There will be a bunch of little human children waiting for you.  You will tell me if he is the eighth digi-destined child."  He set down the wine glass and walked over to Gatomon on the floor, towering over her at his full seven feet in height.  His shadow loomed over her.  "You had better be truthful, slave.  If you are not truthful, there are consequences.  I have been more benevolent towards you than I should have been.  You have blundered so many times during your assignments, as Demidevimon has.  If you do not tell the truth, you will surely be punished.  By torture methods from your nightmares; by being punished without food or drink; by death.  I have not decided which one yet, but you will face one of these if you do not obey my orders and tell me who the eighth digi-destined brat is."

  Gatomon, feeling intimidated, started to quiver.  She still refused to make eye contact but still felt tempted to do so.  "Y-y-yes, M-m-master M-M-Myotismon," she said.  "I-I-I w-w-will do my b-best."

  "You are dismissed," said Myotismon, heading back to his throne.

  Gatomon quickly ran out of the study.  Needless to say, it was out of pure fear.

  The next day, the Bakemon had broken into many an apartment and captured hundreds of people.  Then they forced them into the main room of the convention center.  So many people were confused, and others were embarrassed for they were still in their pajamas and some people were in their underwear.  The children were crying out of fear of the ghosts that came out of their nightmares, and crying even harder when they were separated from their parents.

  "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" shouted one of the children, screaming and flailing himself around.  He tried to bite the Bakemon's arm, but it wouldn't work because it had no feeling.

  "You are coming with me," said a Bakemon as his brother pried his parents away from him.

  The child began crying even harder.  His face was red.  Then he was thrown into another place in the room with other scared children.  There were about seventy-five in all in the first hour of captivity.  All of them were crying out of fear from being separated from their parents and a barricade of scary ghosts surrounding them to ensure that they wouldn't escape.  Most of them were four to eight years old, but there were a few older children in the bunch.  They were trying to comfort their younger siblings.

  Suddenly, a silence filled the room as a lot of bats made a hole in the wall.  The children all turned their heads as the bats revealed Myotismon standing in front of everyone.  The hush in the room was almost deadly.  It was as if everyone knew he was in charge already.  He was holding Gatomon by the scruff of her neck, and Phantomon was flying by his side.

  "Phantomon?  Line them up," said Myotismon.

  The phantom digimon guided the children into a line.  They were too afraid to do anything.  They feared death, and to them, Phantomon symbolized death, with the scythe and the glowing red eyes.  But that was nothing compared to the vampire that they were about to face.

  "Bring on the first child," said Myotismon.  He squeezed Gatomon's neck even harder and growled, "Do not lie; I see right through your lies."

  The first child was pale and shaking from fright, with brown hair and green eyes.  He looked like he was about six years old.

  "Gatomon, is this the one?" the vampire continued.  "Tell me if he is the one!"

  "No," replied Gatomon truthfully.  "He is not the eighth child."

  Then Myotismon bent down to the child's eye level.  "You just got lucky, child.  If you had been the eighth child I would have killed you.  Now leave me before I do!"

  The brown-haired boy began to cry.  "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"  It was purely out of fear.

  "Hey, leave my brother alone!" cried a girl who looked about nine years old, breaking the silence.  She looked like the boy's sister.  She ran up to Myotismon and hugged her brother protectively.  "You will be sorry!"

  Once again, the vampire stood up to his full seven feet in height and stood over the girl.  "You are a very brave little girl," he said, his voice dripping with sugar.  "Surely you do not know whom you are dealing with."

  "You don't scare me!" shouted the girl.  Then she kicked Myotismon in the shins and started to run off.

  "After her!" shouted Myotismon, more furious at the fact that the girl would dare to stand up to his authority than her kicking him.

  Two Bakemon grabbed her by the arms and made her fly back over to where she was.  Phantomon flew in front of her face, wielding his scythe threateningly.

  "You will be pusnished for disobeying my authority," said the vampire.  "Phantomon, you will kill her."

  "But Master Myotismon, that is highly unorthodox," said the phantom digimon.  "All she did was try to protect her brother—"

  "Slave, I am the one in charge!  And when I am in charge, not one being will dare disobey me!"  He took the scythe and pointed it at the girl.  He could hear her heart pounding fast as her entire life flashed before her eyes.  "No one gets away and lives after disobeying Master Myotismon!"  Then he swung the sword around and stuck it through the girl's chest.  He pulled it back out and handed it back to Phantomon.  Blood stained the blade.

  The Bakemon dropped the girl onto the ground.  There was a huge rip in her clothes, with the cloth getting stained red.  The girl gasped to breathe and reached out.  "I- I- I didn't—"  Suddenly a huge river of blood flowed onto the floor, and the girl took her last breath.  Her arms fell to the ground and landed in the puddle of blood on the floor.

  "KIRA!" shouted the boy, running over to his sister and hugging her lifeless body.  Blood stained his hands and the front of his clothes.  He started to cry extremely hard, with tears streaming down his red cheeks.

  "Get out of my face," said the vampire through clenched teeth.  "Or would you like to join your sister on the floor as a lifeless corpse?"

  The boy got up and ran away out of fear.  He was still crying.

  "Now you know what happens when you stand up to me," said Myotismon to the petrified children.  Some were on the verge of crying.  "Let that be a lesson to the rest of you little brats.  Bring me the next child!"

  It wasn't the first child he had killed, either.  Myotismon remembered killing at least five children who dared stand up to him, or run away, or simply existed.  At first, the reflections he had over the nights were merely thoughts of whipping Gatomon and punishing Demidevimon for messing up on his tasks and Wizardmon for his existence.

  It was Wizardmon he remembered most.  Sending his bats after him… using him as a punching bag whenever he was in a foul mood or when he had excess energy… throwing him in the lake.  And he actually ENJOYED doing this to him?  The poor wizard was innocent, tricked into working for him for repaying the debt inflicted on him for being given a potion that made him digivolve, then finding out it did more than make him digivolve, but dark digivolve.  Myo got a nasty surprise waiting for him when Gatomon was sent out to find new recruits but brought back Wizardmon after he was sent into exile.  He was disgusted, but only kept the wizard around purely for making him into his punching bag.  He was then surprised his henchmen still worked for him.  It was mostly out of fear rather than their own free will.

  The reflections grew more intense after time, and more vivid.  It was mostly killing his own henchmen when their usefulness wore out… or for the most irrevelant things possible.  And they seemed to tie in with his life in some way, or something terrible that happened to him.  Really, he was trying to keep himself happy by seeing that others suffered like he had as a young digimon.

  "BLACKGATOMON!" shouted Myotismon, incredibly seething mad.  He was sitting in his throne, clenching the side.  His face was turning red from anger.

  The dark version of Gatomon walked innocently into the room, and bowed.  She was attempting to look brave, but she was afraid she would be punished.  "Yes, Master Myotismon?" she asked.

  "BlackGatomon, what is the meaning of this?" he asked.  "Why did you bring Demidevimon into the castle when he was being punished for his failing to fulfill my plan?"

  The dark cat edged away.  "B-b-but he was cold, and would have died in that terrible storm outside!"

  "One less henchman to worry about," said Myotismon.  "You never learn that to be a good part of my army and to STAY ALIVE, you will mind no one's business but your own and make sure no suffering eats away at your heart.  To be a perfect leader, you should not be sensitive.  I will not tolerate pity for others who truly do not deserve it."

  "You don't get it, do you!" shouted BlackGatomon.  "I used to look up to you.  You seemed so handsome and powerful… I thought after I digivolved we would live in the castle together and get married and all that.  But now I don't want you in my sight anymore.  Your soul is hideous, and you have a heart of ice, if any.  You are an insensitive jerk!  I quit!"

  Myotismon took out a bolt of Crimson Lightning.  "You can't quit!" he shouted, whipping her with his Crimson Lightning.  "You are fired!"

  BlackGatomon cried out in pain as a river of blood flowed down her back.  "Let me go!  Don't kill me!" she pleaded.

  Still the vampire refused to listen.  "You had your chance before standing up to me like that, slave!  GRISLY WING!"  A ton of bats flew out of his cape and started ripping at the black cat's skin.  Her fur was being stained dark red.  "And let us see if anyone saves YOU!"  He threw the black cat out of the window and she landed in the tree Demidevimon had stayed in.

  That next day there was a storm.  To BlackGatomon, it was torture.  Drops of water hit her wounds, and they hurt a lot.  She dug her claws into the tree and wailed just as the wind came.  The wind drowned out her cries for half an hour, and no one came for her.  She shivered and started feeling very cold inside as well as outside.

  That night, Myotismon finally went outside.  "So, slave, how did you like a taste of punishment?" he asked, looking up at the tree.  BlackGatomon was shivering and weak.  Then the branch broke and she fell hundreds of feet to the ground and broke up into millions of tiny pieces.

  The punishments had grown much worse over time, but it was nothing as bad as the daily life of a slave.  A typical slave was crammed into a tiny dungeon cell with three or four other scared prisoners.  It was either too cold or too hot and stuffy.  There was never enough room, and the other prisoners were more worried about themselves than helping anyone else.

  They were whipped awake by a Bakemon who was carrying a whip, giving them the first wound of the day.  Sometimes they were awakened by Myotismon himself, with his Crimson Lightning whip.  It hurt a lot more.

  Then the day began.  They were either left in the cells, or made to do backbreaking tasks, or train with Nanomon, or forced to take over land.  Whenever they didn't work hard enough or messed up even a little, they were whipped by the lightning or, if they were lucky, a loyal Bakemon.  Sometimes their punishments were much worse than just whipping.  Sometimes it was intentionally death.  Mostly it was by starvation, but Myotismon had thought up more interesting punishments, like throwing them in the moat and keeping them down there until they drowned.  Or being thrown in the hell pit.

  One time the punishment was short but very painful.  It was much like the ancient Roman way of execution, where the prisoner was thrown in the middle of a stadium with a lion and the audience decided whether he should live or die with thumbs up or thumbs down.  Only this time, Myo was the only one who watched, and he gave thumbs down right away.  It was a Minotauromon who lost in a fight with the defender of their own territory.  The vampire was furious with this, and he knew that there should be a good punishment for this act.  Minotauromon found himself chained to the floor of what was once the palace ballroom the next day.

  "No!  What is the reason for this?" asked the minotaur.

  "You had your chance," said Myotismon.  He snapped his fingers, and MetalTyrannomon came stomping out from behind a door.  He savored the moment as MetalTyrannomon drooled at seeing this meal laid in front of his eyes.  As well as seeing Minotauromon crying for his life.  It happened in ten seconds.  MetalTyrannomon bent down.  Minotauromon cried out, "NO!  Please call him off!  I'll do better next time!"  Myotismon just smiled.  Then with a roar, a crunching noise, and a satisfied gulp, Minotauromon was gone and MetalTyrannomon had been fed his first meal in days.

  It was awful.  Myo had to get rid of MetalTyrannomon, or have MetalTyrannomon get rid of him.  Speaking of feeding, the digimon were only fed once a day, and only small portions.  Sometimes they weren't given any food at all.  Every night they slept with hunger pains, and some even died of starvation.  The only ones who had decent meals were Demidevimon, Gatomon, and his most powerful henchmen.  And himself.

  One night, he overheard two guards speaking.  "The lighthouse has a portal to the digital world," said one of them in a soft voice.  "We must make sure no one goes in there."

  "Not one digimon will unless they're really injured, and they will be too injured to walk," added the second guard.

  Myotismon, who was trying to fall asleep in the cold night, overheard this.  He woke up and listened carefully.

  "Already we had one digimon escape because he wasn't being supervised well enough in the infirmary," said the first guard.  "Or maybe he had gotten better.  Either way, we need to resort to more guards.  The rule is: once in the Dark Ocean, always in the Dark Ocean.  Marinedevimon, as the leader, will not be happy."

  Though knowing he had to repay the debt, the vampire knew he had paid the price in the Dark Ocean long enough and decided he needed to fix everything in the digital world and the real world before everything got out of hand.  He knew exactly how his own henchmen had felt.  All he needed to do was find a way to severely injure himself.  Just another price to pay, and nothing worse than getting whipped by his own Crimson Lightning.

  That next day he knew exactly what to do.  Every last henchman was chained to each other by the ankle and made to work by reshaping the cape to the lighthouse, which would be a more isolated infirmary.  They all moved rocks.  Some of them even collapsed.

  "Come on, work harder!" shouted Icedevimon, taking a whip of Crimson Lightning and whipping everyone who didn't seem to work hard enough.  Just like Myo did.  A MetalMeramon collapsed onto the ground, and Myotismon got and idea.

  Icedevimon was coming closer.  Myotismon moved over to the edge of a rock that curved in and purposely stopped working hard.  He needed a break as all of his joints ached and sweat glistened on every part of him.  His face and shoulders were sunburned despite the fact that there was very little sun in the Dark Ocean.  [A/N: This describes me after a day of marching band practice.]

  "Well well well," said Icedevimon, licking his lips.  "I've been waiting to get to you, batless boy!  And I see you're not really working hard enough so…"  He cracked his whip a couple of times in the air and then whipped one of the chains apart.  In a flash, chunks of metal sprayed everywhere.  Then the lightning hit Myotismon across the chest and forced him to jump back without thinking and fly into the ocean.  He brought the Skullmeramon next to him down with him, followed by a bunch of Gazimon and an Andromon, who dug his claw into the cliff, but made it fall off instead.  Luckily, a heavy Drimogemon hung onto the ledge.

  In two seconds, the vampire fell into the water and felt something jabbing him in the side and his leg getting twisted.  The last thing he saw before he hit his head on a rock was small lines of red blood streaming into the water and a bunch of digimon falling into the water with him.  After he hit his head on a rock, air bubbles rushed through his mouth and he saw stars in front of his eyes before he blacked out and nearly drowned.

  "Icedevimon, you IGNORANT DOLT!" shouted Marinedevimon.  "You just pushed seven of my workers into the water and injured them badly!"  He wrapped his tentacle around the chain and pulled everyone out.  The Gazimon were coughing and sputtering.  Andromon was muttering something about rust.  Skullmeramon was nearly put out and was shaking.  Myo had it the worst of all.  He was unconscious, bleeding at the side, and had a broken leg.

  "Well well well, look here.  Finally severely injured, the way he should be," said Daemon, looking over his enemy.  "Take these three to the infirmary and make sure this one is badly healed.  What's another scar to our favorite whipping mon?"

  Myotismon awoke three days later in the infirmary.  Andromon was in the bed next to him, covered in rust.  Skullmeramon had died after being put out.  His side was covered in a blood-stained bandage, and it hurt whenever he moved or even touched the bandage.  His forehead was also stained with blood and had a stained bandage on it.  His leg was twisted, but not completely broken.  He couldn't sit up.

  He remembered the portal, then heard more guards talking.

  "The portal is unreachable.  Andromon is unable to reach it because he's covered in rust.  Skullmeramon died yesterday."

  "What about… him?"

  "Myotismon?  He hasn't been awake for three days after he fell into the ocean.  Maybe he died.  It's hard to tell, he's always looked dead.  Anyway, it's not possible for him to reach the portal.  He's really injured too so he won't go back.  Besides, the portal closes in a few minutes."

  "Yah, what's he gonna do there?  Torture his own henchmen again?  He got some real ideas from Marinedevimon and Daemon."

  "We can take the night off.  I need my sleep for the night."

  Andromon cried out, "I can't move!"  He creaked.  "I need oil!"

  Myotismon quickly shut his eyes as one of the guards entered the room.  He could hear some steps, then some creaks, and Andromon's sighs of relief.  Then one of the guards swearing.

  "These g**d**** robots and their g**d*** oil…" he muttered.  "Then they're freakin bitchin about them not getting enough g**d*** oil…  someday I'll oil their ass so much they won't be able to freakin walk…"

  "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" groaned Andromon.

  "Shut the bloody hell up, robot!" growled the guard.  "I'll be back tomorrow, and you had better not smart off to me like that!"  A few steps.  "Oh and if you see vampire boy over there wake up, tell him that it's back to work for him!"

  "Just let me sleep," groaned Andromon.

  The guard stomped away, muttering more profanity.  He said something to the second guard, and the two of them walked off.  The lights in the lighthouse turned off.

  Fifteen minutes later, Andromon was sleeping in his bed.  Myotismon stood up and quietly limped out, trying to ignore the sharp pains that surged through his leg and his side.  He went down the hall and into a room near the end.  He had overheard Daemon speaking about it to his guards.

  The guards were snoring away in their beds.  They were both FireDevimons, just Devimons made of whte-hot fire.  One stirred as the door opened, but that was all.  The portal was behind a door on the right side of their beds, a few yards away.

  Quietly and slowly, Myo entered the room and snuck over to the door.  Just as he opened it, the first FireDevimon opened his eyes and got up.

  "Hey, what are YOU doing here?" asked the FireDevimon.

  Myotismon said nothing; he hurled himself into the door and down the hall to the portal, with FireDevimon hot on his tail.  Just as FireDevimon was about to grab him by the wrist, he entered the portal to the digital world, and the portal closed behind him.

  An hour later, Myotismon was back in his castle.  He was dressed in his normal blue suit and cape again.  They didn't hang loose on him, for they could stretch to fit his figure, whatever it looked like.  He was clean, and his wounds were freshly bandaged again.  His hair hung down past his shoulders, and he was minus his red mask.  Also he was determined to fix every bit of damage he had caused when he was evil.

  Wizardmon stopped in front of him in the hall.  He had returned to the digital world with the digi-destined.  "Master Myotismon!" he exclaimed.

  "Good day, Wizardmon," said Myotismon.  He bowed respectfully.

  "You look different to me," said Wizardmon.  "It's just… last time I saw you… you were…"

  "I was evil," said the vampire.  "And after my experience in the Dark Ocean with the demon digimon I have come back to change my ways."

  "Something makes me want to believe you," said the young wizard.  "But there are some offences that are unforgivable.  Whipping me… throwing me into lakes…"

  "I am extremely sorry for all that," said Myotismon, with the truth in his eyes.  "I have paid the price for all that in the Dark Ocean, and took it like a real mon.  Still, I need to fix everything I have done to all of you."  He looked Wizardmon directly in the eye.  "I have been through so much as a young digimon, and just wished for others to feel worse than I so I could feel better about everything.  But now it eats away at my soul."

  Wizardmon looked at Myotismon's blue eyes.  They looked different.  Every time he looked at those eyes before… they were ice blue, with hardly any emotion in them… but now they were bright blue eyes.  The eyes reminded him of Gatomon's.  The eyes meant he had a change of heart.  Then came the four words that Wizardmon was positive about saying.  "Myotismon?  I believe you."

To be continued…

Sorry about the delay, I was REALLY busy with marching band.  Chapter 4 will be added within the next two weeks, or when I have time, whatever comes first!


	4. The Face of an Angel...

A/N: Sure I'm hyped up on cotton candy from the state fair and coffee from Starbucks, but that doesn't mean this will be insaaaaaaane!  It just means I got a lot of ideas!  And a new hobby: messing around with revolving doors!  (Serious, I did this when no one was using them.)  OK now I'll write.  BTW, there's some irony… this is a Myotismon Angst fic where he wishes he had never been evil to Wizardmon and the group, while I'm working on Forever Virus Book II, and that's a Wizzy angst where Myo is really evil to him… that is very ironic.  Enough rambling for a while.  This chapter depicts more of Myo's blackened heart plus a change of heart.

Chapter 4

The Face of an Angel…

  Myotismon set foot in the immense dungeon where he had locked so many digimon away.  He looked around.  The halls were extremely long, taking on so many different twists and turns to make room for more cells.  There were hundreds of small dungeon cells, which were stuffed with digimon of all shapes and sizes.  They were filled with no less than two digimon.  Many of them were starving and dying of hunger, and lying on the ground.  Some of them had their ribs visible beneath their skin, they had wasted away so much.

  "I cannot believe I have done all this," said the vampire.  "All those helpless digimon… there must be thousands of them close to death…"

  "You know exactly what to do," said Wizardmon.  "Don't you?"

  "Yes," replied Myotismon.  He walked into the center of the hall.  "I wish to see every last one of you in the ballroom," he shouted out.  "It is very important business that I must discuss with all of you.  I wish for EVERYONE to come."  He bared his fangs in a grin and announced his proclamation to the other side of the dungeon.

  Wizardmon had his doubts.  Maybe Myotismon hadn't changed.  Maybe he had gone through a morphing of eyes and a drastic weight loss and beat himself up with his own attacks to make everyone feel sorry for him.  Especially as he returned, with an emotionless expression on his face.

  "Come, Wizardmon," said Myo, walking out of the dungeon.

  Wizardmon stayed as all the dungeon doors opened wide and thousands of weak, starved, and injured digimon trudged out of their cells.  Many of them shared the same worried expression.  The young wizard motioned to them all and said, "Do not be worried.  Maybe there will be rewards for the hardest workers."

  "I don't know," replied a Gazimon.  "The last time Lord Myotismon had all his workers together in a ballroom, he killed all of the injured!"

  Wizardmon remembered that.  He had been injured before then, but recovered thanks to his magical abilities.  Myotismon had not been pleased with that action at all.  All of the injured workers had been thrown in the hell pit before Wiz had a chance to let any of them recover.  He had felt sorry for himself and couldn't sleep that night.  He was lucky that Gatomon was not one of the injured workers.

  The digimon had arrived in the ballroom.  Two huge tables covered by white tablecloths and metal dishes that were covered by metal domes filled the room.  They all turned their heads towards the north end of the hall, where Myotismon was standing.  About fifty Bakemon were behind him.

  "May I have everyone's attention?" asked the vampire.  Everyone shut up, afraid that they would be punished.  "I wish to tell you three things.  First of all, I am incredibly sorry about what I have done to all of you.  I have done so many evil deeds in the past.  From merely threatening you, to whipping you until you are nearly a bloody mess, to killing your friends and fellow servants.  I have spent a month in the Dark Ocean and changed my ways by my own free will."

  A confused buzzing filled the ballroom.  The digimon all looked quizzically at each other.  This could be a trick, or the truth.

  "Second, I am setting you all free.  You are no longer my servants, unless you wish to be.  If you are my servants, you will be paid in decent food and a hefty amount of digi-dollars.  If you mess up in your tasks, I will not punish you in any way.  Instead, you will be given another chance.  Finally, I wish to make everything up to you.  The Bakemon have prepared this delicious banquet of food just for you.  Eat all you want.  And I'm not trying to poison or kill you, either."

  All of the Bakemon removed the lids off the plates.  The plates had a lot of delicious-looking food on them, all the delicacies of rich humans, generated by the mighty powers of the Internet and cooked to perfection.  At first all the digimon were reluctant to eat anything, but one brave digimon sampled the food and it tasted fine.  So every digimon ate until they could eat no more.  They were beginning to trust Myotismon a bit, but not much.

  "Is it OK if I still serve you, Lord Myotismon?" asked Demidevimon, flying up to him and perching on his shoulder.

  "Of course you can, Demidevimon," replied Myotismon, stroking him affectionately.  "And please, call me by the name Myotismon.  The 'Lord' brings back many a painful memory…"

  "Are you sure you're not infected by an email virus?" asked the imp.  "You refuse to be addressed as Lord Myotismon and you're not calling me a slave… you haven't insulted me all day!"

  "He's gone through a change of heart," replied Wizardmon.  "Probably because of his experience that he doesn't wish to talk about."

  Myotismon looked forward, watching his former servants.  They looked happy and contented, with their hunger satiated.  Plus, they didn't seem to be as afraid of him as they were.  He loved seeing them like this.  Before then, he hated any and all signs of love and peace.  He had thrived on darkness and hate.  It was more of his sustenance instead of blood.

  But how and what would he eat then?  Solid foods just weren't his thing.  He couldn't bear to taste another drop of blood.  There was the possibility that data would keep him satisfied and alive, because digimon hardly starved to death.

  "Wizardmon, can you assist me in something?" asked the vampire, turning to his new companion.  "I must have a sustenance other than blood.  Blood is just too brutal and could wind up killing a young human."  It was then he remembered the mauled girl.  "Is there a way I can get by?"

  "Master, I know you will be mad at me for this, but Gatomon and I have been searching through your study, finding ways to escape your castle and improving the digital world," replied Wizardmon.  He braced himself for a punishment, but it never came.  No whipping, beating, not even a single reprimand for his deeds.  "And… and I happened to come across a comparison of the Dark Ocean to the digital world.  So many things were different there, and there might be a way to help you…"

  Myotismon, to everyone's surprise, looked at Wizardmon sympathetically.  "Thank you so much for telling me about this," he said.  "I will put your research to good use."

  Later, he was sitting in his chambers with a glass of wine, reading on the Dark Ocean and the digital world.  It turned out that much of the Dark Ocean produced conditions of fear, despair, hunger, and more pain than could be caused in the digital world.  For digimon were sustained by the data produced by computers, which was in many foods and even other digimon, and there was hardly any data in the Dark Ocean, they grew weaker there than they ever could in the digital world.  If Myotismon had ruled in the Dark Ocean, most of his henchmen would have been dead.

  "Whatcha reading there, Myo?" asked Demidevimon.

  "It's about the Dark Ocean," replied the vampire.  "I realize that the Dark Ocean is just like a hell for digimon, which I have paid the price in for years of evil deeds more evil beyond belief.  My powers have been taken away there, but I don't feel any effect here.  It's as if my powers are returning to me.  Also, I starved and got tormented almost as if I was one of my own servants.  It was as if Daemon was doing me good."

  "What's Daemon got to do with this?" asked Wizardmon.

  Myo knew he had said the wrong thing.  He was going to need to tell his servants sometime.  He sighed, put down the book and said, "When I was sent through the Dark Ocean, I was as arrogant and self-centered as I was in the real world.  But Marinedevimon, in a way, knocked some sense into me by giving me the same treatment as I gave you, Wizardmon.  He threw me into the ocean… like I had thrown you in the bay… I could have killed you…"

  "But Joe and Ikkakumon came along just in time and rescued me," replied Wizardmon.

  "But what if those two had not been around in time to save you?" asked Myotismon, his eyes glazing over.  "It was by a stroke of luck… I wish I had never done that at all.  You were trying to get me to not be so nasty towards anyone, but I refused to pay attention to you.  I saw you as an annoying insect that just couldn't be swatted away.  But you are one of the best digimon around.  You were the only one who would believe me at first.  I have so many that I have to make it up to, even now."

  "I'm here and I'm alive," replied Wizardmon.  "And… well… I forgive you…"

  "I am grateful that you are easily forgiving me after all I put you through," replied Myotismon, recollecting another nasty memory that had to do with Wizardmon and his torture.

  "There you are!" shouted Myotismon, suddenly materializing behind Wizardmon and grabbing him by the ear.  He marched the wizard towards one of the favorite and most widely-used rooms in his castle: the torture chamber.  And this one had a new sort of torture.  "I need you to test this new torture device for me!"  This was shortly after Wizardmon had been brought back to him.  Myo had realized that the wizard had a soft spot for Gatomon.  He needed to get rid of the little bit of romance between the two.

  "Why must I?" asked Wizardmon.  "What did I do?"

  "You hatched from your digiegg and waltzed up to this castle, asking for a way to digivolve," replied the vampire.  He still remembered the first time he saw the wizards face, and despised the face for no apparent reason.  "And now you will test out my new torture device!"  He snapped his fingers, and the Bakemon came up to him and unveiled two identical torture devices.  Both were the wooden platforms that had the handcuffs and feet cuffs that you pulled until the victim's hands and feet came off.  One of them was empty, and on the other one was Gatomon.

  "Help me, Wizardmon!" squealed Gatomon.

  "Shut up," Myotismon growled at Gatomon.  "If you do you won't be the first one victimized."

  Two Bakemon flew over to Wizardmon, who was squirming to be let go.  His staff was snatched away from him and thrown onto the floor.  It landed with a clang.  He was cuffed to the stretching device.

  "And no, Gatomon is not here so you don't have to suffer alone," said Myotismon.  "She is here so you will suffer even more!"

  "What do you mean?" asked Wizardmon in a meek voice.

  Myotismon nodded at a Bakemon.  He turned the crank, and the chains that held Gatomon's arms and legs pulled onto them, stretching the cat digimon until her limbs grew sore.  He darkly chuckled to himself, savoring the cry.  Still he needed more.

  "Bakemon, stretch her out even more!" commanded Myotismon.  The Bakemon reluctantly cranked the chains so Gatomon squealed out in pain.

  "NO!  HELP ME AND STOP IT NOW!" screamed Gatomon.

  "Let her go, bat face, or you'll get a taste of my Thunder Ball," threatened Wizardmon.  It was out of love for Gatomon as she screamed once again.

  "I think the kitty cat has had enough," declared the vampire.  "I believe she will never look at me with those eyes again.  Still, she might…"  He walked over to near his throne and pulled two sharp knives out of a panel on the wall.  "I need to make sure she won't."  He removed his glove and tested the sharpness of the knives.  He drew blood twice.

  "What are you doing to her?" asked Wizardmon.

  He thrusted the point of the knife into the board of the torture device, about two inches away from Gatomon's neck.  The blade was pointed right towards her, too.  The other was placed on her other side, also two inches away.

  "If she moves," said Myotismon, "she dies.  It makes it so much more interesting to watch…  Maybe I'll leave her there for longer than I expected.  I knew it would be real torture to watch her like this."

  Gatomon cried, trying not to move.  Her arms and legs were in so much pain, and she thought they were about to fall off.  Her fur was beginning to get wet with perspiration as she tried her best not to move towards the knives that were thrusted next to her neck.  One wrong move and she would die.

  "And now for the real torture" he continued.  He nodded to Bakemon, which turned the crank for Wizardmon's stretching.

  The wizard's arms and legs stretched up and down.  His arms hurt, but he was determined to fight back.  He squirmed and yelled.  "No more, I've had enough!" he shouted.

  "No you have not!" shouted Myotismon.  "Bakemon, more!"

  Bakemon reluctantly turned the crank again.  Wizardmon's arms stretched out even further and so did his legs.  He was in as much pain as Gatomon, and thought that his limbs would fall off.  "Please no more of this torture ever!" he shouted, fighting back his cries of pain.  Tears were forming in his eyes as he clenched his teeth together.  "Now let Gatomon go!"

  "More, Bakemon!  Don't stop until he agrees not to even come into the same room as Gatomon, ever again!" commanded the vampire.

  "But… master… don't you think that's a little… harsh?" asked the Bakemon.

  "Do you want to die?" asked Myotismon.  "Never question my authority!"  He rushed over to the crank and cranked the chains even tighter.  Wizardmon grew so stretched out.  The wizard clenched his teeth and nearly everything on his body.

  "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he finally shouted.  "Please… just… let me go!  I'm sorry I exist, I'll be of better use…"

  Myotismon paid still no attention.  He took out two sharp silver knives with blood-stained blades, and thrusted them into the platform, less than an inch away from Wizardmon's neck.  The wizard wasn't able to move at all, lest he die.

  "This ought to make you change your feelings about everything," said the vampire.

  Wizardmon suppressed his cries, much like Gatomon did.  Tears were forming in their eyes, and their teeth were clenched.  Suddenly Gatomon looked right at Myotismon, which was a mistake.

  Those eyes… those terrible eyes… how the vampire hated Gatomon's eyes so much.  His hand began to glow.  "Never look at me with those eyes!  CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  He whipped Gatomon once, and then twice.  Tears began streaming down the white cat's face as some red blood trickled through her fur.  She dug her claws into the board she was stretched out on, then screamed.  For good measure, Myotismon whipped her again, this time harder than ever.

  "STOP IT!" she cried.  "STOP IT PLEASE!  LET ME LIVE AND I'LL NEVER LOOK AT YOU WITH MY EYES AGAIN!"  She squeezed her eyes shut and held her neck stiff so she didn't get stabbed by the knives that were right next to her neck, bracing herself for yet another whipping.

  Myotismon put down his whip of lightning.  Gatomon was already bleeding, but not much.  She was crying.  Her white fur was singed where the lightning had whipped her.  "This is the best method of torture of all," he mused to himself.  "And now for the wizard…"

  Wizardmon squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for a severe whipping.  It came down on him harder than it did on his friend.  He suppressed his cries.  He was stretched out on a board with lightning whipping him.  Myotismon whipped him for three minutes that seemed like three years to Wizardmon and Gatomon.  Every time he did, wounds had formed on the wizard's back and re-opened with every whip.  There were going to be scars.

  Then, for good measure, he whipped them both with one shot, the hardest he had.  Two screams erupted from the room, so loud they could be heard throughout, even outside, the castle.

  "I believe you have had enough," declared Myotismon, digging the knives out of the boards and thrusting them back in, at a distance away from Gatomon and Wizardmon.  He did Gatomon first, for obvious reasons.  The chains took a long time to uncuff, even when the Bakemon was helping.  Finally, Wizardmon's chains were undone.  The wizard tumbled down to the ground, aching from the torture he had just been put through.  Blood stained both wooden platforms.  Myotismon had attacked them good.

  "So have you two learned your lessons?  Gatomon, never look at me with those eyes again.  Wizardmon, stay away from Gatomon and toughen up."  Myoitsmon picked Gatomon up by the scruff of her neck.  Gatomon winced as his hands pinched her.  Myo threw Gatomon into the hall.  He picked Wizardmon up by the cape and hurled him into the hall behind Gatomon.  "If I see you two aren't competent enough, I promise I will not be as benevolent as I was."

  The vampire was back in his study.  A tear flowed down his pale face as he began to cry.  "I have been so awful towards all of you!" he exclaimed.  "I was so… evil… and cold and callous… it's amazing how everyone wants to still serve me!"

  "The past is gone…" whispered Wizardmon.  "Still, there are things that are unforgivable in my opinion.  You have done so many unforgivable things, but a part of me wants me to believe that you've changed."

  "I will go to the real world once again tomorrow and change my ways with the humans I have affected by feeding off of them," declared Myotismon.  "It is terrible to thrive by blood… to sustain the cravings every day… and have it meet my high standards by adding the flavor of fear.  Normally thinking about it makes my mouth water and gives me cravings beyond my control.  But now… nothing seems to happen.  From now on, I will live off the data thrown away from the Internet.  It may not be much, but it is so much better than thriving on blood.  Wizardmon, are you ready to go to the real world with me?"

  "I am up to it," replied the young wizard.  "This time, by my own free will."

  "I'm coming too!" Demidevimon volunteered, saluting.  "My master ain't going anywhere without me!"  He perched on the top of the throne and grinned.

  "Excellent," said Myotismon.  "We leave first thing tomorrow."  He left the study, ignoring an ice-blue glow that came from a small locked box on the top shelf of a dusty bookcase.

  The next day, Myo traveled to the real world in disguise.  He was wearing a special image inducer that made him look like a tall boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.  IT could change the way he looked at will.  Phantomon, Demidevimon, and Wizardmon were traveling with him.

  "I would like to thank you for helping me," he told the three henchmen that were now just companions.

  The four of them materialized where they had first set foot.  It was the daytime.  Normally Myotismon just shielded himself or traveled to the real world at night, but he didn't seem affected by the sunlight.

  "Where are you going first?" wondered Wizardmon.

  The vampire looked around.  He had caused a lot of damage while in Japan.  The damaged buildings that were broken into by his ghosts, on his own orders… the buildings that were damaged by his attacks… the TV station that was no more after he left his mark.  Everything seemed to be under reconstruction thanks to him.

  He walked up to one of the workers that was working on the apartment closest to him, in the body of a younger child.  In the voice of a child, he said, "I'm sorry about what happened."

  "Don't worry about it, kid, it's not your fault," said the worker.  "Ever since those monsters were on the rampage a few months ago…"

  "I know, and I'm incredibly sorry about what happened… it was sort of my fault in a way."

  "It wasn't your fault."

  "Yes it was!  Everything is my fault!  All of the attacks were my doing!  I was the one who sent those monsters on you!"

  "WHAT?"  The worker's eyes grew wide.

  "I'm sorry I did everything.  Please, I beg forgiveness from everyone whose lives have been affected by my wrongdoing."

  The worker rolled his eyes.  He didn't seem to believe this strange child who walked up to him and begged forgiveness for something that was not his doing.  He had never seen the kid once in his life.  "Fine," he said.  "I forgive you, though I don't know what you did.  And so does everyone else, I guess."

  A few minutes later, Myotismon returned to his three other companions with a confused expression on his face.  "They did forgive me, but the did not know why they had to…"

  "You have ought to try something else," said Wizardmon.  "Buildings don't have lives, despite all the humans that lived in them.  There are a bunch of female humans that you fed off of."

  The vampire bowed his head, remembering every last one of the women.  They might have died by now, and he needed the chance for them to live long enough to try to bring them back to life.  He walked briskly, in his disguise, towards the intensive care section of the hospital.  It took a long time for him to convince the workers that he was a relative and a friend of the women who died.

  "I'm sorry this happened," he always said to the female humans, who laid in their beds, pale and limp, with two bite marks in their necks.  Many of them were hooked up to machines to help them.  The diagnosis was always "sudden anemia, possibly caused by a genetic disorder," but Myotismon knew that it was his work.  He was the one who had to have the thirst for blood.

  Before he was sent through the Gate of Destiny, he would have thought nothing about the humans.  They were only little parasites running around in the world that he wanted for himself.  What was a human but a walking and talking creature with no purpose except to walk around their miserable lives.  Thinking they were the ones superior to anything and everything else in their miserable world.  They were wrong and Myotismon knew it.  HE was the one superior to those foolish humans.  But why did they not think so and make it hard?

  The children seemed to be the worst of all.  They thought of themselves and the good of the world.  Why were they so superior and light-hearted, carefree, and so easily frightened.  They might have seemed adorable when he looked at him, but the vampire knew that they would grow up into larger parasites that would wage war against him and his henchmen.

  Why did Myotismon think that way about humans?  He now knew that humans weren't parasites anymore.  They were trying to fend for others, not just themselves.

  He ran his hand through a brown-haired woman's hair and whispered, "I'm sorry."  Just then, the machine that measured the woman's heart rate beeped slower and slower, until it became a big long one.  The woman's hand fell limp.  She was no longer breathing.  One of his victims had died.

  "No," said Myotismon.  He began to cry softly.  "Why is it that they die?  Why couldn't she have recovered?"  He buried his face in his hands and began to cry for the woman who had died in front of him.  He was being punished.

  "Hey, who are you and what are you doing with my mom?" asked a girl from the doorway.

  Myotismon turned his head around to look at her.  She was a pretty girl with green eyes and long wavy auburn hair.  An ice-blue glow seemed to show around her for a minute, with a crest symbol showing up over her heart for the same time.  When he blinked, the glow and symbol were gone.  "I'm sorry this had to happen," he said to the girl.  "Your mother has died."

  "What?…" asked the girl, walking over to her mother's bed.  "This is awful!"  She started weeping.  "She was a novelist, and she had accidentally left one of her manuscripts in the park, so she went back there at night to retrieve it.  I was doing homework at a friend's apartment a few minutes later.  I thought she had returned, but she didn't for half an hour.  And the park was only three minutes away from where we lived…

  "My dad thought she misplaced her work, so he didn't bother looking.  He did look out the window and didn't see Mom there.  There was too much fog.  He had also seen a dark stagecoach pull up on the path.  He had seen that stagecoach all the time, but he didn't think anything suspicious of it.

  "Suddenly I was finishing up my homework when my dad came up to the door and said he got a call from the hospital.  My mom was in the emergency room, and her neck was bleeding.  She might have been shot there, but the doctors found no bullets.  She might have been stabbed there, but there were no marks that looked like a knife.  He did see two bite marks in her neck, which meant she could have been stabbed by a different kind of knife, or a nail or something.  She was diagnosed with sudden anemia.  I thought she would get better, but she didn't.  There was not enough blood for a transfusion, since so many women had also lost their blood earlier that week."

  Myotismon knew that was also his work, but he said nothing.  He laid his hand on the girl's shoulder in comfort and said, "I'm sorry that happened."

  "I don't think it was your fault," said the girl.  "You look too young to be a murderer.  Once my mom did get enough energy to talk.  When we visited her in her intensive care room, she told us about her assailant."

  "What… what did she say about me— er, the one who killed her?" asked Myo, hoping that the description would be nothing like him.

  The girl tried to think, forcing back tears.  Finally she said, "Well she said that he was tall and blonde with really captivating blue eyes that seemed to lure her into him.  She forgot about her husband and any other love lives she ever had the second she looked at those eyes of his.  I think she said he was also wearing a mask, and a black cape… but she wasn't sure."  She paused for a minute and said, "She also sighed and said that he had the face of an angel but the soul of a devil because she leaned in to kiss him but something hurt her neck and something wet ran down it… maybe something was licking it too…"

  "I'm very sorry that had to happen," said Myo.

  "Don't be, you're not the one," replied the girl.  She grew more enraged.  "They never found the man who did it.  They say it was a psycho who stabbed others for fun, but I don't think so.  I think it was a vampire."

  Quietly, Myotismon edged out of the room.  He couldn't take any more of anything.  But he did listen at the door.

  "He's gone now…" the girl mumbled.  "And I just moved here as well… if only my brother hadn't gotten sick on the swings and made Mom forget about her papers… if only I hadn't said 'Let's go to the park!'"  She buried her face in her hands and cried.

  This time, Myo felt her pain.  Many of these women were mothers, and these children had lost a part of their lives.  He stuck his head through the door and said, "Come out here."

  The girl walked out of the room.  "So you're still here?"

  "Yes," replied the vampire.  "And I would like to tell you why I'm here.  You see, someone I used to love a lot got kidnapped and taken to another place, where he was beaten up and forced to work for hours.  He was neglected, and well, somehow I don't seem to love him anymore.  Still, I don't want him to die because… well… there's so much he hasn't accomplished in the world."

  "Is it your father?" asked the girl.

  "No."

  "Your brother?  A cousin?  A friend?"

  "None of these…  uh, distant family."  Myotismon refused to admit that he was talking about himself.  "He traveled here to Tokyo just to terrorize others.  He didn't care anything about what happened to others along the way.  Everyone hated him.  Except for me.  I loved him because he was family and just loved him unconditionally.  Even his workers hated him so.  He was taken away to a place, and while he was there, I reflected on his life and realized he was just AWFUL to everyone.  And now I hate him so much, and it seems no one will forgive him!"

  "But you should," said the girl.  "No matter what he did.  I forgive him."

  "You don't understand," said Myo.  "He was the one who killed your mother."

  "You know the one who killed my mother?" asked the girl.  Her eyes were wide.  "What is his name?"

  "I think he told me once, but I forgot it," replied Myotismon.  "I do believe he's close, and I will be watching for him.  If the others forgive him, then I will forgive him too."  He left.  "Goodbye, and I hope I see you again."

  "You too," said the girl.  "You're one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life."

  That night, it seemed that nothing had been fixed between Myotismon and all he had destroyed, including the lives of innocent humans.  He was paging through a book, a glass of wine on the table next to his chair, when an ice-blue glow caught his eye.

  "Myo, that box is glowing!" Wizardmon exclaimed, pointing his staff at the top of a shelf.

  Demidevimon flew over to the box and held it between his talons.  "I got it," he said.  He flew over and gave it to his former master.

  The box was a small dark wooden one that was polished, but dusty.  It had a lock on it that had a strange symbol on it.  The key was attached to the bottom.  The box opened to reveal a tag and a crest set in a red velvet and plush lining.  The crest was glowing an ice blue.

  Myotismon looked closer.  There was a symbol in the middle of the crest that was providing the light.  It looked like a tiny yin yang without the dots.  The very miniscule yin yang was surrounded by the points of light from Kari's crest.  A small sound was coming from the crest.  It was the sound of beautiful music made by the voices in a choir of angels.  He held the tag and crest, and a small warmth flooded through his body.

  "What crest is that?" asked Wizardmon.  "I've never seen that before!"  
  Demidevimon's eyes were the size of dinner plates.  "There's a TENTH child?" he squawked.

  "Can I see it?" asked the wizard.

  The vampire handed him the tag and crest, which ceased glowing.  It didn't glow or feel warm in Wizardmon's hand.  The wizard studied the crest intently.  "I think it's a digi-destined crest," he said.  "It doesn't seem like one the digi-destined would own, though."

  Suddenly, Myotismon realized why the crest was in his possession, and it was as if he knew about it.  "I remember reading about this…" he reminisced.  "It is one of the ancient crests… the four first crests ever made.  It can be good or evil.  It's known as the Crest of Destiny."

  "Destiny?" asked Wizardmon, handing Myotismon the crest.  It began to glow again.

  "How come it's only glowing when he has it?" wondered Demidevimon.

  "I think I know the answer," said Myo.  "I believe I have a digi-destined."

To be continued…

Well this chapter has been put on hold for a while… hope I haven't lost any of you!  In the next chapter, Wizardmon plays another big part, and the digi-destined discover a secret about a new girl, who is Myo's digi-destined!  (Don't worry, it's not a self-insertion thing.  That's right, it's not me this time, though I wish it were…)


	5. The Child of Destiny

A/N: No, it is not me in the story!  *People gasp out of pure surprise.  Fireworks go off.  A huge band starts playing.  Reporters from all over form a circle around me.  (J/K).*  Heh… school just started but I promise to write as much as I did this summer (cept for the vacation, of course…)  Also, band camp was fun!  May you like this chapter as well as the first four.  Sorry if this chapter sounds a bit weird but it was written the day before, and I was kinda tense about it… I promise I'll give Myotismon more angst in the next few chapters.

Chapter 5

The Child of Destiny

  "I've never seen her before," Tai whispered to Matt as a tall, thin girl with auburn hair and green eyes took a seat next to him in his homeroom the day after Myotismon re-visited the real world.  He had noticed that there was an extra seat placed in the room.  No one was absent.  The auburn-haired girl was the last one to arrive.

  "Neither have I," Matt whispered back.

  The teacher entered the room, and everyone quieted down.  "Good morning," said the teacher.  "Now I would like to introduce a new student.  Everyone meet Thaleia Nadir, who moved here from the UK last summer."

  The auburn-haired girl stood up and walked up to the front of the room.  She smiled a weak smile at Tai's and Matt's homeroom.  She had grown shy ever since her mother died that summer.  She was sure that the class was giggling at the way she had dressed, in her secondhand school uniform that was too big for her.  Ever since her mother died, her dad missed out on work and forgot to buy her a new uniform.  She felt so out of place compared to the richer Japanese kids.

  "Why don't you tell the class about yourself, Thaleia?" asked the teacher.

  "Uh…"  Thaleia looked at her feet, deep in thought.  "Well… I am from England, and we moved here because of my dad's job.  My mother died a few days ago.  She had anemia which she got last summer.  She was a novelist.  My dad works at a car company.  I have a little brother named Julius.  Oh, and call me Tali."  She sat down.

  Tai noticed something she was holding that looked like a digivice.  "Oh, what's that in your hand?"

  "This?"  Tali looked at the digivice.  "It's just a silly little toy.  It's… um… a belt ornament."

  Tai held out his digivice.  "I have the same thing.  You know what it is?"

  Tali blinked.  "Actually, no.  One day I was in London and going to meet the queen because she was holding the parade, when this ice-blue dot shot through the air into my hands.  I thought it was a meteor, but the dot turned into this metal thing.  I had no idea why it was here, or even what it was."

  "Did anything happen after you got it?" asked Tai.

  "No," replied Tali.

  "Something happened to me.  This thing is called a digivice.  It means you are a digi-destined, and you have your own digimon."

  "Digi-what?"

  "That was my first reaction.  It's these little digital creatures that hang out around you.  They fight and battle and become your friends.  Do you have anything like that in your life?"

  "No, not really."

  "You don't have a digimon?"  Tai's eyes were as wide as dinner plates.  "How can you be a digi-destined if you don't have a digimon?"

  "No talking, please," said the teacher.

  Tai hung around Tali all day just to tell her all the fundamentals of being a digi-destined and having a digivice.  He also introduced her to the others.  That evening, Tali finally decided to go home.  She had the strangest feeling someone was following her.

  The night before Tai met Tali, Myotismon already knew about her.  He gathered all the energy he could to create a viewing orb that was small but effective.  He concentrated, and finally an image of Tali showed up in the middle of the mist in the orb.  She was peacefully sleeping in her bed.

  "So that's your digi-destined," said Demidevimon.  "I can't believe it, this world is getting INFESTED with digi-destined!  Pretty soon they'll be living here and what do you know, there goes the neighborhood."

  Myotismon gave no answer.  He looked over the girl in the orb and finally realized why she looked so familiar.  "I remember I spoke to her today… I killed her mother."

  Wizardmon had pain in his eyes.  "I can't believe you would kill someone's mother!" he exclaimed.

  "That wasn't the worst of it," said the vampire.  "I once killed a mother AND her daughter in the same night.  I horribly regret that and I wish I could make it up to everyone.  However, it doesn't matter.  I wish that I could change everything…"

  "You can't change the past," Wizardmon reminded him.  "But you can determine what happens in the future."

  "Then, with the girl by my side, I will make sure the world is saved instead of destroyed," declared Myotismon.  "I have truly seen the error of my ways, and now I will find more ways to fix the error.  Still, I wish I hadn't killed her mother."  He gazed at the ceiling, wishing he had never been so evil.

  "Who knew your digi-destined would have been connected to you in the strangest way imaginable," mused Wizardmon.

  "I will meet her tomorrow," declared the vampire.  "I hope she forgives easily…"

  The next afternoon, as Tali went home, she had the strangest feeling someone was following her as she walked down the street.  She didn't know her way around Tokyo and was afraid she would get lost.

  A fog rolled in from the east, blocking everything from view, including the sun.  A bunch of people wondered what was going on.

  "Lucky for them," grumbled the auburn-haired girl.  "They actually know their way around this stupid place."  She froze in her position as she looked around and saw nothing but opaque fog.  She turned around, then backed into an alley without knowing it.  Suddenly she tripped over something that was in the way, and fell to the ground, dropping her book bag.  Her books and papers spilled out onto the ground.

  As she tried to pick her school things up, Tali saw a shadow looming over her.  It looked strangely familiar to her.  She thought maybe it was just a friendly person asking her if she was all-right, or seeing who was in there.

  "Who are you and what do you want?" Tali asked.  She picked up her math book and brandished it like a shield.  "I have protection!"

  "Relax, I'm a friend to you now," said a deep voice that came from the shadow.

  Tali took a closer look at the person who stepped out of the shadow.  Then she wondered if he was even human.  Still, he was very handsome, with blonde hair and blue eyes… sort of familiar to her in a way, but she forgot how.

  "Who are you?" asked Tali.

  "I am Myotismon," said Myotismon.  "I am your digimon partner."

  Tali thought she would like him until she saw his pearly white fangs.  Suddenly she remembered the description her mother gave her.  He had the face of an angel… blonde hair… blue eyes… a red mask and a black cape… and she said she believed in vampires and that her killer wasn't a psycho who stabbed people for fun, but instead was a vampire…  "You can't be my digimon partner," she declared.

  "But I am," said the vampire, as gently as possible, as if trying to reassure her.

  "You killed my mother!" shouted Tali.  "You killed her!  YOU KILLED HER!"  She hurled her math book at Myotismon, who caught it and set it down.  Then she gasped and began to cry.

  "I didn't know," said the vampire.  "I tried to fix everything, but…"

  "You don't understand what it's like to not have a mother," said the auburn-haired girl, her eyes stinging from the tears.  "To learn that she was killed by the likes of YOU.  You insensitive bastards should stop breathing!"  She hurled her history textbook at him, and it hit him in the face.  She covered her face and cried, making sure to kick Myotismon in the shins on the way.

  This didn't go the way the vampire had expected.  He reached out and said, "Come back!"

  Tali refused to listen to this… this… she couldn't find words to describe this cruel monster who killed one of the only people in her life she held dear to herself.  She ran out into the middle of the street just as a car came zooming down the street.  Since the fog was so thick, the driver didn't see her.

  "Look out!" shouted Myotismon.

  Tali looked in front of herself and saw two bright headlights of a car that was coming down the street.  She quickly ran out of the way just as the car passed.

  "That was close," she said to herself.  "I'm glad that I lost that vampire.  That jerk was starting to creep me out.  I can't believe he would kill my mother!"

  Myo hung his head in shame.  This was not the way it was supposed to go at all.  He wished there was some way to reverse the course of time, to make sure that no one would get killed.  "I do not blame the girl for hating me so," he said to himself.  "But still there are some things I have never felt.  Her losses… they happened and are so devastating because she had a mother to begin with.  I never had a mother.  Elecmon never seemed like a mother to me when I was a young digimon.  If I had a mother… maybe I would have experienced the exact same loss my digi-destined has experienced.  Human emotions are so simple and easily changed… which is why I can never understand them."

  "I believe you have already understood them," said Wizardmon, who had materialized next to the vampire in the alley.

  "Come again?" asked Myotismon.

  "You say you can never understand human emotions, but you cannot unless you experience them for yourself," replied the wizard.  "Before you disappeared for that long month, you seemed so cold and emotionless.  Your face seemed to be made of stone, for it never changed its expression once.  You didn't seem to care about anyone.  Nothing could please you no matter what your henchmen did.  The only time you ever cracked a smile was when you saw someone get killed, or the like."

  "I deeply regret that," replied the vampire.  "I remember seeing myself and the story of my life, and how many times I tried to destroy the lives of so many of my innocent henchmen.  The only one who could have done such a thing about that was myself.  And look where it got me."

  "I know, but listen to yourself!  You have truly changed for the better.  Ever since you returned from wherever you went, your emotions have been enhanced tenfold.  You weeped for others.  You were happy when the henchmen got what they desired: freedom, healing, and a good meal.  And, for once, you are respecting me as if we were equals."

  "But Wizardmon, we are equals."

  "I saw that you were worried for the digi-destined child when she was about to get run over.  You have changed.  You know human emotions incredibly well."

  "Except for the loss she had.  If I had had a mother and she died, then I would have known what it would have been like to lose a piece of my life."

  "You have a point there."

  The two digimon sat in silence until they heard the wail of ambulance sirens in the distance.  They grew closer and closer until it seemed as if they were only down the street from them.  Then there was a confused buzzing filling the streets as a crowd of people grew.

  "I will find out what is happening," said Myotismon, changing into the boy that he had changed into the day before.  Wizardmon transformed into a younger boy with straw-colored hair and wearing a yellow jumpsuit.  The two of them pushed their way through the crowd until they saw about four cars that had crashed.  Several paramedics were quickly loading about ten people onto stretchers.  All of them were covered with their own blood and had bruises and scratches on their face, as well as having legs and arms twisted in different directions.  A redheaded man had a huge piece of glass lodged in his forehead.  "What's going on?" he asked one of the paramedics.

  "These people got into a nasty car accident," replied the paramedic as he loaded an auburn-haired boy onto a stretcher.  "It was definitely the fog.  They couldn't see in front of them, and I guess one of them didn't know their way around the city, because two cars headed into each other from different directions, and then two more crashed into those."

  "That's awful," said Wizardmon.

  Myotismon hung his head.  It was his fault, and he hadn't intended to do so.  "No, it's worse than awful.  It's too awful to describe in words."

  Sirens and blaring lights were all over the place now.  It all seemed to pass in a delirious blur, as if it was a nightmare.  Myo couldn't stand it.  If hundreds of digimon and several humans were not enough, about ten more had been added to the death toll.  Voices were everywhere, echoing in his mind.  A flash of auburn hair passed him.

  "Who is it?" asked Tali, pushing everyone aside.  "Who are they?"  She saw the redheaded man and young auburn-haired boy, covered in their own blood and so many cuts and bruises no one could recognize them anymore.  "NO!" she screamed.  "Mister, do you know who these are?"

  The paramedic shook his head.  "No we could not," he replied.  "No one could identify them, because we have not seen them before.  I think they are people new to this town."

  Suddenly Tali saw that in the smoking piles of metal, nuts, and bolts, was their license plate that wasn't the Japanese license plate.  She recognized it as being from England, where she used to live.  It was theirs.  "This can't be," she said, her eyes brimming with tears.  "This really can't be!  My dad and my brother were in the accident!"

  "Tali?" her brother asked weakly, looking at her.

  "Julius?" Tali said, a tear flowing down her cheek.  "Are you… all-right?"

  "No," replied Tali's brother.  "Everything hurts and I know I'm going to die!"  He was loaded onto the ambulance with his and Tali's dad, who wasn't speaking.  He had his eyes closed and a mask placed over his face.

  "Let me go with them!" shouted Tali.  "They're my family!"  She reached out, but a policeman grabbed her by the arms.

  "Little girl, where are your parents?" asked the policeman.

  "MY DAD IS IN THE AMBULANCE!" screamed Tali, trying to break free.  "My brother is in there too!  LET ME GO!  I NEED TO BE WITH THEM!"  She started screaming and crying at the same time as tears streamed down her face from her red-rimmed eyes.  But she didn't have a chance because the ambulance doors closed and that one drove off, sirens wailing and lights blaring, to the nearest hospital.  Tali just gave up.

  Myotismon was not able to stand it anymore.  The rest of his digi-destined's family was about to die, leaving Tali orphaned and alone in the world, with no one to come with her and guide her.  She was eleven, and still young.  He also began to cry out of pity for not only himself, but for his digi-destined.  He had caused more deaths even in his change of heart.  Why did he have to produce the fog?

  "Hey kid," he said to Tali, choking back tears.

  Tali glared at him, as if she could see right through his disguise.  "I have a name.  My name is Tali Nadir!  And if you haven't seen, my father AND brother are being rushed to the hospital!  They are— they are all I have— have left of my family!  If I lose them, I lose everything!"  She buried her face in her hands and began crying harder than she ever had in her life.

  Myotismon put his hand on her shoulder in support, trying to suppress his tears of self-pity and compassion for his friend.  "I feel your pain, Tali," he said.

  "It's all my fault," she said, hanging her head.

  "No, it's all MY fault!" shouted the vampire, scaring her for a second.

  "Why do you think that?" asked the auburn-haired girl.  "You haven't done anything to hurt me!"  She looked at him for a second.  "Why is it I have a sense of déjà vu when I see you?  I feel as if we met today.  Are you from my school?"

  "No," replied Myotismon.  "I live in a different city.  I must leave.  Maybe we'll see each other again very soon."  He started to walk away, but Tali grabbed him by the wrist.

  "Come with me," said Tali.  "I don't want to be alone when I'm with my dad and brother.  When they die, I will have no one left.  I'll… be… alone."

  "Alone… alone…" the word echoed in Myotismon's mind as he walked Tali to the emergency room.  He had been alone his entire life.  Abandoned by his friends… no mother or father to care for him like Tali had… even when he was with his servants he felt a great emptiness inside his blackened heart.  He tried to cloud it out with thoughts of ruling the digital world.  Sometimes, in the day, he awoke in his coffin feeling an emptiness within himself.  He knew it wasn't his cravings for blood.  He couldn't tell exactly what it was, for some days he thought he couldn't have emotions like the humans and vaccine and data digimon.  But now he understood that he was alone, and his heart ached to heal that deep wound that had always been there.

  He held Tali's hand through his wait in the waiting room throughout the night.  Sometimes he went into the intensive care unit with her, and saw the sight he had caused.  Blood was leaking though the carefully-placed gauze bandages that were everywhere on their bodies.  Her father was hooked up to a blood transfusion machine and a respirator, and couldn't move.

  "He got brain damage and is paralyzed from the neck down," the doctor informed them.  "He might not be able to live too much longer."

  "Tali," said Julius Nadir, who was Tali's younger brother.  He was also hooked up to a respirator.  He tried to stretch out his arms to hug her, but he ached too much to do so.  "Will I be fine?"

  "I don't know," replied Tali, her eyes brimming with tears.

  Suddenly Myotismon felt the urge to go over and comfort Tali's younger brother.  He walked over to him and ran his hand across his forehead.  "You might be fine if you just hang in there," he told him.  "I don't want anyone to die.  No matter who it was that was in the accident, I don't want them to die."

  "Two of them already died," the doctor replied sullenly.  "None of the others have too much longer to live, either."

  It was too much for the vampire then.  He ran outside and cried, burying his head in his hands.  He couldn't believe anything he did anymore.  Even unintentionally he left everyone to die.  All those "foolish humans," as he once called them, had met their deaths thanks to him.

  "What's wrong?" asked Tali, who also ran into the waiting room.  "You're lucky to not have all your family taken away from you, just ripped from your life.  Do you even have any idea of what it's like to experience a loss like I have?  All of my relatives are back in England, and they do not keep in touch with us at all.  I doubt they even know my name, or if Julius exists.  My mother died thanks to that… that… vampire who confronted me earlier and probably killed everyone thanks to that damn fog of his.  And now my father's and brother's lives are hanging by a thread, and you're crying a river for yourself, aren't you?"

  "Actually, it's you," said Myotismon.  "I know exactly what it's like to be you.  I have done so many terrible things, seeming so insensitive.  But now that I have started out clean, it's like I'm seeing myself in everyone else's shoes.  But everything I do seems to make it worse for everyone."

  He and Tali sat in silence for a few minutes.  By that time, it was almost midnight.  Almost everyone had left the intensive care unit except for the two of them.  Finally, at midnight, the doctor entered with a grave expression on his face.

  "Tali?" he asked, looking as if he were about to cry as well.  "I have some terrible news.  Your father has… passed on.  He died just one minute ago."

  "NO!" Tali shouted.  "NO, I WON'T believe it!  I won't believe anything you say!"  She rushed inside to the intensive care unit, where the machine her dad was hooked up to was off.

  "We're sorry," said one of the workers.  "We are very, very sorry."

  "Will I be fine?" asked Julius, who was struggling to breathe.  His eyes were beginning to close.

  Tali walked over to him and squeezed his hand.  "I promise not to let go.  And no matter what happens to you, I will make sure you will stay safe and with me.  I love you."

  "And I… love you… too…"  Tali's brother closed his eyes as he took his last breath.  His hand fell limp in his sister's hand.  Tali's brother had died.

  "He died too?" asked Tali.  "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  She cried harder than ever before.  "YOU WERE ALL I HAD LEFT!!!!!!  WHY DID THIS EVER HAVE TO HAPPEN TO ME?  WHY-HI-HIY?????????!!!!!!!"  She cried and cried so hard, she drowned out everything else.  Tears streamed out of her eyes and splattered on the floor.

  _I killed her family,_ thought Myotismon.  _I took away everything that she loved, and now she has no one left to care for her.  There are some human emotions even I cannot feel.  How can I experience a great loss if I never had anything to lose to begin with?_  A tear rolled down his cheek as he saw Tali crying and crying over her drastic loss.  He then got an inspiration of how to give Tali inevitable comfort and reassurance.

  Tali had cried herself to sleep.  As she awoke with her eyes closed, she was thinking, _It was all just a horrible nightmare.  My parents never died.  I never met that creepy man in the street.  And I will awaken in my bed in my apartment, ready to start the day._  She opened her eyes to find she was in a soft bed with red velvet sheets that had a slightly musty smell, and matching pillows.  The ceiling and walls were made of stone, and there was a small chandelier hanging from the ceiling.  She realized she was in a castle.

  "Good morning, Tali," said a familiar voice.  "Did you sleep well?"

  "Why am I here?" asked the auburn-haired girl, seeing the boy she was with in the hospital standing by the side of her bed.

  "Well, since you have no one left, I have decided to be your guardian as well as your digimon partner."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Remember me, the boy you met before your brother and father died?  Well I am not really who you think I am."  Myotismon removed his image inducer.  "I am different," he said in his normal voice.  Then he grew taller and transformed back into his true form, as the very ultimate digimon who had taken the lives of everyone in her family.

  "YOU!" Tali shouted.  She jumped out of her bed.  "You can kill everyone I hold dear to me, but you can't kill me!"  She ran out of the room and into the hall of the castle.  She didn't stop until she tripped over Wizardmon and hit the ground.

  "Hello, Tali," said the young wizard.  "What can I do for you?"

  "Get me out of here, away from this monster!" Tali demanded.  "He killed everyone and then lied to me about everything!  He disguised himself, and then lured me into his little trap.  I knew I shouldn't have trusted ANYONE!"

  "Hold on," said Wizardmon.  "I know that Myotismon has made a few… mistakes in his lifetime, and by "a few," I mean "so many," but he realized the error of his ways and tried to fix them.  He had a thirst for blood, and he couldn't resist human blood with fear in it.  He couldn't tell who the woman is, or whether or not she was someone's mother, but he went back and tried to fix everything.  And the fog was a pure mistake."

  "Are you trying to lure me back into the trap that this Myotismon probably set for me?"

  "No.  As a matter of fact, I fell into his trap.  You would feel lucky after what he did to me.  He whipped me just because I EXISTED.  He hated Gatomon because of her eyes, and whipped her almost as hard as he whipped me.  He killed his servants simply because they wore out their usefulness."

  "That's AWFUL!  Get me out of here NOW!  I'd rather die a thousand deaths than stick around in this hellhole.  Please help me out."

  "But you have yet to know.  After he threw me into the lake, I returned, and he was madder than hell about my return.  But an angel trapped him in his Gate of Destiny, and something must have happened to him on the other side that made Myotismon change his ways.  Maybe he reflected on his life, or something similar.  But whatever it was, he changed his ways.  He returned to his castle, considerably thinner and quieter.  He freed his servants and gave them a hearty meal.  And to all the servants who chose to stay with him simply because they wanted to, he interacted with them and treated them as equals.  It's like I'm not a servant at all."

  Tali's eyes widened.  "You are his servant?"

  "But he doesn't think of me as his servant anymore.  He doesn't call me 'slave.'  He calls me by my true name, Wizardmon.  And he doesn't get miffed whenever I don't address him as Master Myotismon or Lord Myotismon.  In fact, calling him by the Lord or Master label seems to cause him pain in some way.  Here, let me show you what I am talking about.  This is what he was like before he went through his change of heart."  He waved his staff and conjured a white mist.

  "What are you doing?" asked Tali.

  "Watch the mist," replied Wizardmon.  "This is what Myotismon was like before he went through his change of heart."

  An image appeared in the mist.  In the image was the vampire holding a whip of Crimson Lightning and confronting an elderly Gazimon.

  "Please, Myotismon, spare my life!" adjured the Gazimon, on his knees, shaking, and holding his paws together as if in prayer.  "I know I haven't met your standards lately but I'm getting old and weak!"

  "Spare me your pleas, SLAVE," said the vampire.  "And you will address me as LORD Myotismon!"

  "I'm sorry, master," apologized the rabbit digimon.  "I want to live!  Please don't punish me!"  
  "You have ten seconds to tell me why you should live," said Myotismon, glaring at his servant with icy blue eyes.

  "Well… uh… I must live…" Gazimon stammered, unable to think under this pressure.  "DON'T KILL ME!"

  "Your time is up," declared the vampire, cracking his whip of Crimson Lightning for practice.

  "I'm sorry I was unable to think—"

  "I said, your time is UP!  FOREVER!  CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  He whipped the crying Gazimon.  In one blast, he had disintegrated.  All Myotismon had done about this was darkly chuckle to himself.

  "That is awful, what happened to the poor little bunny," remarked Tali.  "Why would he do such a thing to ANYTHING?  I mean, the elderly can seem sort of useless at times, but that's no reason to pull the plug on them early!"

  "Yes, but Myo realized that as one of the errors of his ways," the young wizard assured Tali.  "And now look at him after he returned.  And watch as how he's treating his servants."  He waved his hand, and the mist spun another picture, from three nights before.

  Myotismon came up to Wizardmon in the hallway.  "Good day, Wizardmon," he said.

  "I am doing just fine today," replied Wizardmon.  "I see you're in one of your better moods."

  "Yes…"  Myotismon sighed.  "But sometimes I wish that everyone else was… I'm surprised that everyone is in a good mood after all I put them through.  I must have whipped them all at least once.  And you… you have been whipped much more than anyone.  You have the scars on your back to prove it.  But if there was a way to reverse the course of time, I'd do it for everyone in the digital world.  Their lives would have been so much better off without me."

  "Yes, I do agree, but that is no reason to beat yourself up like that," said Wizardmon.  "If it hadn't have been for you, they would have never had such an outlook on life."

  "For such a young-looking wizard you are very wise," said the vampire.  "Still, the outlook wouldn't have been caused if I hadn't tortured them half to death for such irrelevant reasons.  Such as their eyes… I do not blame Gatomon for wanting to leave me."  He left.

  "He is different, now that you look at him," said Tali.  "Maybe he has changed a little…"

  "And you know the reason why he took you in?" asked the young wizard as the mist disappeared.

  The auburn-haired girl shook her head no.

  "Because you lost your family.  The closest thing is a digimon partner.  I myself have never had a human partner, but I have seen Tai and the other digi-destined.  They feel as if their digimon partners are their family.  They have established a bond.  And… well… when Myotismon saw that your parents and brother were gone, he took you under his cape and into his castle.  Why?  Because he cares about you, and doesn't want to lose you like you lost your family.  Maybe he will seem like a father to you someday, because I know that underneath the fangs and cold eyes, he cares for you deeply."

  Tali started to reconsider.  She said nothing.  Maybe he had done something because he cared.

  "And you know what?  He traveled to the real world yesterday to do nothing but meet you.  The fog was purely an accident, and he had not meant it.  All he wanted to do was get to know his human partner, and together you would fix all the damage he caused.  And it wasn't anyone who convinced him to fix it, either.  It wasn't me, it wasn't you, it was himself.  He was trying to do this for the good of the world."

  "Fine," said the auburn-haired girl.  "Maybe I will give him another chance.  Thanks for telling me, Wizardmon.  Maybe I've made my first friend since I moved to Japan.  Where am I, anyway?"

  "You are in the digital world, on a place on Server called Nightmare Castle," replied Wizardmon.  "But it is no longer like a nightmare to anyone.  It's a place to live a normal life like any other digimon who works here."

  "I work here now?" asked Tali.

  "If it had been me from any other time," said Myotismon, appearing behind Tali, "I would have made you a servant.  But now, we will be human and digimon partners.  And I promise we will accomplish great things and fix any terrible things I have done."  He smiled at Tali, who looked back at him.  He still had the feeling that something wasn't right.  And there was something that was not right.  Daemon and his demon crew were planning to travel to the real world.

To be continued…

  Well I hope you like it!  New chapter within a week!  I promise to maintain the level of Wiz air time, and to put in a lot more of the Myotismon Angst we all love!


	6. The Debt Repayed

A/N: This story has gone past the halfway point now!  I reread the last chapter, and I do agree that it WAS more than a bit intense.  I promise this chapter won't be too intense.  YAAAAAAAY!  I HAD MY FIRST BAND COMPETITION ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!  I was gone for twelve hours, and did get a lot of ideas there!  Go Marching Wildcats!  One of the drum majors's outfits looks JUST like Myo's, cept the drum major's cape is shorter and a metallic silver, and he doesn't have a mask (world's biggest DUH there)…  OK I'm rambling again.  Prepare for angsty angstiness, possibly!  Or at least Myotismon with plenty of air time!  The usual flashback, plus Daemon gets some air time too!

Chapter 6

The Debt Repayed

  Tali traveled through the gate to the real world, directly to her school very early in the morning.  The portal had been efficient for getting her there in time.  There, she saw Tai, Sora, Matt, Joe, Mimi, and Izzy standing on the steps.  They were waiting for her to arrive.

  Meanwhile, in the throne room in his castle, Myotismon was watching his digi-destined in his weak but efficient viewing orb.  He had regained almost all his strength and was beginning to get healthier and more powerful than he had, and was starting to look just like his old self, except he went without his mask for hours at a time.  He just was not able to admit to his henchmen about the deformation that made his face less than perfect.

  "Hey master, I have a question for you," said Demidevimon, perching on his shoulder and peering into the viewing orb.

  "Yes, Demidevimon?" asked Myotismon, expecting a question about why he was watching Tali converse with the other older digi-destined.  Or why he was surveying the digi-destined without plotting any sort of revenge.

  "Well, I was wondering what that is that runs between your eyes," said the imp, shifting from one side to another uncomfortably.  "You know… that red line that looks like one of your Crimson Lightning bolts?"

  The vampire hadn't expected this at all.  His thoughts immediately switched to the memories from his past… Toxidramon, his master, supposedly more powerful than he was until one blast of his Crimson Lightning wiped him out… Toxidramon had attacked him hard as a lesson on how to obey authority and to not digivolve and escape.  His eyes glazed over and his heart sank.  He couldn't tell any of his henchmen the truth.  The scar that spanned his face was a painful reminder that he was a low servant, possibly lower than his own servants.  Myotismon used to not stand the fact that he was once a lowly servant who had a master.  He was supposed to be the master, teach himself all on his own.

  At first he would have wanted to admit the truth to every last one of his servants, but part of him wanted not to.  There were a lot of things he couldn't tell his servants.  They were all painful secrets to why he was the way he was, and why he was so evil.  Though he had made the transition from evil to good, Myotismon still couldn't stand ridicule, especially against himself.

  Still, he had been ridiculed before by his henchmen… by the digi-destined… by Tali…  What was one more bit of ridicule to him?

  No.  Not this time.

  "Demidevimon, it is a scar I received in battle against a Toxidramon when I was a rookie," replied the vampire, stretching the truth.  "I was cornered by it and was attacked.  I digivolved to Devidramon and attacked, but not without getting wounded.  We need to pay a price for our victories in battle.  I won instantly, but was left with a nasty scar running across my face.  The mask I wear is for covering it, to shield it and not wound me there."

  "Oh," replied Demidevimon, switching his attention back to the viewing orb.

  Tali walked up to Tai and the gang and greeted them with a soft "Hi."

  "Hi Tali," said Sora.  "I haven't seen you around here."

  "Me neither," agreed Izzy.  "I have utilized my digivice for tracking purposes, and your signal has not been picked up yet."

  "And I live near your apartment," said Joe.  "I went to see if you were in there, but when I opened the door I saw nothing in there except an overstuffed couch, a television set, and a broken lamp."

  "Are you sure you don't have the wrong apartment?" asked Tali.  "That could have been anyone's!"

  "No, I remember Tai telling me exactly," Joe argued.  "He said you lived in Apartment 15-D in Heighton View Terrace.  Those apartments are cursed, my brother Jim told me.  Not only is there dust that is just horrible for my allergies, but I hear that the most deaths in Odaiba have occurred there.  Just last night I heard an entire family went missing.  The father and the son died, and it's a mystery what happened to their other child."

  "Poor them," said Tali, knowing it was her family that they were talking about.

  "Not only that," Tai interrupted, "but we have had our first experiences with digimon there.  I wonder if you will find yours there.  Hey, why don't we go over to your house and do homework?  I'd love to meet your family!"

  "I'd love to," replied Tali, "but… but… but I'm very busy tonight."

  "What is it?" asked Mimi.  "Shopping?"

  "No," replied the auburn-haired girl.  "It's a family thing.  Uh… we're going to do something, but I forgot what.  Bye."  She got up and began to rush into the middle school, but Tai grabbed her by the wrist.

  "Hey, where's the fire?" the keeper of courage asked.  "School doesn't start for a long time.  Come on!  I'll tell you, you will have so many great adventures as a digi-destined.  I think our greatest was the one we had with Myotismon."

  "Uh oh, someone said your na-ame," teased Demidevimon.

  The vampire looked at the imp.  "I know they will be speaking negatively about me, but I will make sure that they know that I am no longer evil.  I will find the specific error of my ways…"

  Tali blinked.  "Myotismon?" she asked.  She knew her digimon partner had that name.  "Oh, you won't believe this!" she exclaimed, eager to tell her news to the other digi-destined.

  "Yes," replied Tai.  "He was the sort you shouldn't mess with.  And man, what a mon he was.  He was the nastiest of the nasty, possibly worse than the Dark Masters, but the Dark Masters are another story.  He had had his eyes on us the entire time, waiting to catch us off guard.  He killed his own henchmen, killed many people I knew, and enveloped all of Japan in a fog.  If it weren't for Kari, he would have ruled all the worlds.  And you'd never believe what I say about him, but this is all true.  We came across him, and he tried to kill us all so many times before our crests began to glow.  Then he trapped us in a maze in his castle while he traveled to the real world to try to conquer it.  We finally got here, but he was one step ahead of us.  Myotismon had enveloped Odaiba in a nasty fog, cutting off all communication.  And then he sent all his henchmen out to destroy us.  He also held everyone captive in the convention center, kidnapped Kari, and killed his henchmen in front of us.  What was it you wanted to tell us?"

  Tali felt herself being choked up.  Maybe she had been deceived and lulled into thinking Myotismon was good and he would take care of her, but he would probably drink her blood and force her to work for him before using her to conquer the world.  Or maybe if the digi-destined knew he was her digimon partner, they would try to kill her as well.  "Uh… nothing," she replied.

  "OK…" said Matt, looking at her suspiciously.

  The bell rang, and everyone went inside, except for Tali.  She was standing on the steps, worrying about everything.  Myo looked about the same as she did at the viewing orb.

  "I knew this would happen," he said to Demidevimon.  "You may take your leave.  I need to be alone."

  "Will do," replied the imp, flying out of the room.

  _This is just horrible, the way I have been,_ thought the vampire.  _If only I had not been the way I was, attempting to destroy the digi-destined.  If only I had found my own as a rookie.  I need to know what caused this evil in the first place.  I must change every last thing that happened because of me.  It is all a negative effect, and it has scarred both worlds._  He thought back to everything that he remembered from his past.  What was truly evil?  Was it the fault of Toxidramon, for torturing him?  Or before then, back to Primary Village, when he was ridiculed and prejudiced against by the other baby digimon.  They had grown up…  grown up to become his henchmen.  The Botimon that called him a misfit grew up to be the elderly Gazimon…  the other Poyomon were other virals, like more Bakemon… the other babies were his own henchmen then, and he usually killed them off.  Was it he knew who they were and was just seeking revenge, or would he have done it no matter who they were?

  Myotismon really needed to think about everything.  He needed to go to a secluded place, like he usually did when he needed to think things over.  Not the study, because that brought back too many negative memories.  Usually when he needed to think about a plan to take over the digital or real world, he would go to his study and just write things down to utilize for later plans, or go over what he had written a long time ago to put into action, or just sit in his throne and think.

  He got up and decided to return to his study and try to make a fresh start by devising a new plan— a plan that would improve the worlds rather than destroy them.  The vampire walked down the empty halls, which were normally abuzz with his henchmen and Bakemon, but now there was no one there.  He liked it that way, seeing that hardly any of his henchmen were around anymore.  Finally, he reached the heavy doors of his study, opened them, and stepped in.  The doors closed behind him.

  He hadn't noticed how dark and melancholy his study had been, for he was used to it in his past life.  The only source of light was the glow of the torches that lined the walls.  The shelves in the study were lined with books— the records of the digital world.  The digital world had its strengths, but it also had its weaknesses.  Myotismon had manipulated those weaknesses and put them to good use for his own good.  With those weaknesses, he had controlled a very large chunk of Server.

  Myotismon still remembered that he still controlled a large part of Server, thanks to those records.  Many a night did he spend in the study, rereading the records over and over, underlining some important passages that could be of good use to him.  Once in a while, he spent the entire night in the study, reading over and over, not stopping to satisfy his thirst or to pay attention to his henchmen.  When the morning came, he would go back to his crypt, content that he had a new plan for taking over the digital world.

  He was determined to rule the digital world.  He still remembered that one night when Demidevimon had the nerve to enter his study.  Never in his life would the vampire allow any of his henchmen to enter, lest they discover his plans and escape and attempt a takeover, giving him yet more competition.  Devimon… Etamon… Piedmon and the other three Dark Masters… they were all Myotismon's rivals.  He would have sent his henchmen out and weakened their henchmen, and destroyed them himself, but when the digi-destined came, he decided they would do the job for him.

  Devimon had already been defeated, and Myotismon knew the digi-destined were on Server and accommodating their crests.  He was outraged to find out that they already had their crests, and was working even harder to find the digital world's weaknesses that could be used against the digi-destined.  Maybe Etamon would defeat them before.  He could defeat that damn monkey any day.

  "Master Myotismon?" asked Demidevimon, pushing the doors to the study aside.  He flew in and landed in front of the table that the vampire did his work at.  "I need to tell you that—"

  "Demidevimon, what are you doing here?" asked Myotismon, glaring down at the imp with his ice blue eyes.  He savored the moment when Demidevimon began to shiver.  "You do know that you are not allowed in here."

  "But I have news!" insisted Demidevimon, fluttering his wings.

  "Get out now," dictated Myotismon.  "You know this is off limits to you!"

  "But the news is IMPORTANT!" shouted Demidevimon.

  "You can tell me later.  Now leave before I lose my patience with you."

  Demidevimon started to fly away for fear of punishment, but before he made it out he quickly declared, "Etamon has been defeated and they found all their crests oh and if you defeat them you had better think of a plan because they are venturing onto your territory and you won't like it when they do."

  _That is more like it,_ thought the vampire.  _Now Server is all mine to rule!  But damn, they have found their crests.  I have read about them.  The crests alone cannot make the digimon digivolve to ultimate.  Though I can defeat an ultimate, it is best I do not take that chance.  If the digi-destined make their crests glow, the chance is less that I will win against them._  "Demidevimon, get back in here," he said to his minion.

  The imp poked his head in between the two doors.  "Yes, master?" he asked timidly.

  "Make sure the digi-destined's crests do not glow," said Myotismon.  "Or I will have your head," he added.

  Taking his master's threats seriously, Demidevimon saluted with one wing and left the room, saying. "Yes sir!  I will build a great army of henchmen for when the time comes!"  He exited and let the doors slam shut behind him.

  Server was all his to rule.  The army of henchmen would be built so the digi-destined would get defeated.  The vampire laughed evilly, and all his bats fluttered around him for emphasis.  That was one of the only times when he was actually glad about something.

  All that had passed.  The digi-destined had not ventured onto his territory, his land, for quite a long time.  He knew they were there; but they never knew about him until they reunited.  By that time, he was known around Server as the Vampire Lord, the only ruler of Server, and had taken over Etamon's territory of the desert.  He even managed to rule the area the digi-destined were in, but without them knowing.

  Everything was over.  He still ruled Server, but nothing seemed the same.  At first he loved it, but when he saw Server, it had turned from a vibrant continent with lush forests and bright blue skies, and even the desert was beautiful… it had turned from that to a barren wasteland with black forests, grayish deserts, constantly stormy skies, and plenty of scared digimon.  Before being sent through the gate, he loved the sight.  Now Myotismon loathed the site.  It made him sick just thinking about it.  He had found a weakness.

  Traveling through his study, he reached the old desk in a space secluded from the bookshelves and chairs.  On it was a book with yellowed pages full of small text with records of the digital world on it.  There was one picture on the page on the right-hand side.  He remembered it as the last thing he had looked at before he traveled to the real world, with information on the crests.  There was also a quill pen and an inkwell for writing things down in the book, a few sheets of parchment, and a half-melted cream colored candle that immediately lit up.

  Myotismon examined the page with the picture on it.  There was a lot of information about the crests' strengths and weaknesses, with underlined phrases and some of his untidy handwriting scrawled in the margins.  The picture caught his eye.  It resembled a star chart in a way, for it was a black sphere divided into sections by white lines.  In the dead center was a black-and-white drawing of the circular digital world.  There were eight lines extending from the center to the edge of the outer circle, dividing the rest into equal sections.  In each of those sections were star patterns, and in connection with the star patterns were pictures of the eight digi-destined's crests that were colored but had faded over time.

  "The crests…" he said to himself.  He turned to the next page, and there were a few prophecies, which he had ignored, and still did.  Prophecies were useless, especially when he could change his fate drastically or even a small bit.  He carefully turned a few more pages until he reached one that caught his eye.  It had a picture of the Crest of Destiny at the bottom, and at the top there was a drawing of a humanoid figure that resembled him.  The picture was a full view of the humanoid digimon.  He was tall and lanky, with a handsome face covered by a mask.  He was wearing a cape that resembled his, and a suit that looked like his as well.  The head was turned to the side and turned upwards.  What looked like a few bats were fluttering around him.

  _The Undead Lord will reign supreme over the Continent of Server, until following the Chosen Children to Earth.  Upon his arrival, he will prosper until the final battle.  He will be sent to the Dark Ocean of His Heart, where reflections upon his life will occur, and he will return to the digital world to mend his ways._

_  His Chosen Child will be a special child, who has had losses greater than that of the other Chosen Children.  She will be the owner of the Crest of Destiny, which will be either good or evil, depending on the Undead Lord's own decisions when the King of Death appears on Earth._

_  A loss will save everyone._

  "What does the last part mean?" Myotismon wondered out loud.  "A loss will save everyone?"  He read over the prophecy again, and knew that the King of Death they were talking about was Daemon.  "I wish I never went through all of this!" he shouted, turning the pages back to the way they were.  "I need more peace in my life!  I need… peace."  The vampire quickly walked up the stairs to the tallest tower in the castle, climbed up through a trapdoor, and sat on the roof of the tower.  The nasty storm cloud that always hovered above the Nightmare Castle started sprinkling rain.  He didn't mind.  He was alone, and none of his henchmen would bother him.

  There was pure tranquility and peace as the wind gently sprinkled the cool rain onto the castle roof and Myotismon contemplated his Server.  HIS Server.  He hated that, but if he ruled Server he would make it a better place.  It had looked much greener as the rain came, and a bit more vibrant.  Maybe the goodness he had recently had had been reflected on the good of the world as well.

  He stood up on the pinnacle of the tower and gazed at his surroundings, which seemed to be the entire digital world.  His hair and cape were flying back in the wind, and he seemed to hear angels' wings as the wind blew.  That was when an inspiration came to him.  To make sure the digi-destined don't jump to conclusions and run away from him before he could tell them anything, Myo would appear to them in their dreams that night.

  Tali couldn't keep her mind on everything at school that day.  Maybe Wizardmon had been pulling her leg, or downright lying to her.  If he had, she would be outraged and frightened at the same time.

  "Bye, Tai!" she said to Tai as she walked in the opposite direction as he did.  "See you tomorrow!"  She briskly walked home in the cold autumn weather.  It was getting colder and colder, and the portal to Myotismon's castle was farther away than she had expected.  So many thoughts ran through her mind as she took her long journey.  When she was a little girl and visited London and read her fairy tales, she had always dreamed of living in a castle with a handsome prince.  She wondered why she wasn't happy or content even when her long-ago wishes had been fulfilled.  She felt indigent even when she thought of it nowadays.  Possibly because although she had her castle and handsome prince, it wasn't what it seemed to be.

  She passed buildings and more buildings until she reached the TV station, where one of the portals were located.  She remembered the instructions, and went around the side of the building and entered through the back door.  She went up the stairs until she reached the globular part on the top.  In the middle was a glowing blue circle, conveniently placed and programmed to go on and off when she appeared.  She stepped into the middle of the circle, and she and everything she had was immediately transported to the portal room in Myotismon's castle.

  "I'm back!" she yelled, as she usually did when she entered her family's home.  This time, there was no answer.  She wasn't used to not hearing anything, because her dad was always home during that hour, just to greet his kids as they came home.  She took her backpack and walked out of the room and down the halls until she reached the main staircase.  "Anyone here?  Hello!  Can anyone hear me?  Hello-oooooo!"

  Not hearing anything, Tali decided to explore the castle on the way to her new bedroom.  Forgetting it was on another floor, she walked around on the second floor.  She reached two heavy wooden doors, wondering if her room was in there.

  But it wasn't.  As she opened the doors with a creak, she entered the torch-lit study that was very cavernous and dim, and so silent she could have heard a pin drop.  She looked around for any sign of anyone, but there was nothing.

  Finally, after wandering the shelves full of books and not seeing anything interesting, she saw a desk.  "Maybe I will do my homework," she said, grateful to find a reason to get the heavy math books off her back.  She set her backpack down and sat in the large chair.  She noticed a candle came on when she sat down.  "Hmmm, that's convenient," she remarked, taking her math book out of the backpack and setting it on the desk.  But something caught her eye before she had a chance to open the book.  "What's this about?  Cool picture.  What are these, the constellations of the digital world?  Is this what Myotismon studied in digi college or something?"

  She looked at the pages the book was open to.  Many passages were underlined, and they all explained the weaknesses of the digital world and the crests.  Sometimes she ran across some untidy scrawl in the margins, and it was all about destroying or conquering the digital world.  Tali gasped as she turned back a few pages.  On some sheets of parchment was a plan for takeover, which included merging two worlds together and kidnapping the lost digi-destined.  She knew he knew about the other digi-destined.  What she didn't know was that the lost digi-destined was Kari, and the plans were from months ago.

  "Oh my God," she murmured.  "This is awful!  The others were right!"  She sat there in silent shock for a few minutes before she decided to quickly exit and do her homework in a hiding place where no one would discover her.  She would not stay here.  She would run away the next day, far away from Myotismon.  She thought he was up to no good.  She ran back into the portal room, where she discovered a secret passage behind a Devidramon statue.  Tali would stay there.

  As she fell asleep, using her jacket as a pillow, thoughts ran through her head.  _I don't know who to believe.  I want to believe that Myotismon is good, but the digi-destined sure don't say he is.  Wizardmon seems very trustworthy, but there is just something about him that tells me he's lying about something.  I don't know who to believe at all.  It makes me wonder if the digi-destined will be my friends.  I mean, I don't seem to trust anyone.  Myotismon is really handsome and all, but I heard that phrase that says that beauty is only skin deep and beauty can kill.  And he is a vampire.  And he killed my mother.  And my father.  And Julius, my only brother, all I had left before they were taken away from me…_  She cried for a long time, thinking about her family.  They were all she had, and she was all the rest of her family had.  Her other relatives had no children, so she was all they had.  She needed a future.  _Maybe, when I go back to Tokyo, I will go to our bank and withdraw all the money we have so I get enough money for a plane ticket.  Then I will go back to England and live with one of my aunts or my grandparents…  but I haven't heard from them since I was seven, and I doubt they know me…_  She finally fell back to sleep, making plans.  She would go back to her apartment, get her stuff, pack her bags, and leave.  Life was not working out for her.

  Meanwhile, in the Dark Ocean, the incident had been reported to Daemon.  He immediately made plans to travel to the real world.  That night he arrived at the portal in the lighthouse.

  "Everyone, we will travel to the real world," the devil digimon declared to his Demon Corps.  "We will take over it, for it is much more precious than the digital world.  And with Myotismon rendered powerless and in his castle…"  He morphed into what looked like the vampire, and spoke in his voice.  "…this will be incredibly easy, especially with him trying to earn forgiveness among the other digimon.  Are you ready for battle?"

  "Yes," replied Devimon and the other devil digimon.

  "Excellent," said Daemon.  "Takeover begins tomorrow."  The portal glowed, and the demon digimon traveled to the real world in a flash, unnoticed as Myotimon and his henchmen had been the night they arrived.

  That night, when all of the digi-destined were sound asleep, Myotismon closed his eyes and prepared to enter their dreams.  He had entered all of their nightmares at least once before, but now it was for a good reason.  It was to convince them that he was good and to warn them about Daemon.  Tali had been missing, though his Bakemon had told him that she was there.

  The vampire delivered the exact same dream to the first seven digi-destined, but they screamed and ran away, and Tai even spit at him.  Finally, only TK was left to deliver the dream to.

  TK had fallen asleep with Patamon right next to him.  As he fell asleep to the rhythm of Patamon's snores, hugging his digimon tight, he suddenly saw a familiar figure in his dream.

  "Myotismon?" he asked the figure.  "What do you want?  Please don't kill me!"

  "I'm not here to kill you," replied Myo.  "I'm here to do the exact opposite, and save you from death.  Please listen to me."

  "Why?" asked the young blonde.

  "Because I have turned good.  Listen, I have redeemed myself and found the error of my ways, and now Daemon wants me for it."

  "I think you deserve that after the way you killed those digimon that worked for you."

  "I have been tortured beyond belief, and have felt the way my henchmen had felt as I cruelly whipped the living blood out of them.  Please listen to me.  Daemon will be arriving in the real world soon.  Also, please thank Angemon for me.  If it weren't for him, I would still be evil and you might have died thanks to me.  Warn the others about Daemon and tell them that I have changed my ways!"

  Before TK could open his mouth to ask anything else, the vampire dissolved in front of his eyes.  Suddenly, the blonde keeper of hope opened his eyes wide.  "Patamon!" he whispered to his digimon.

  "Mmmmmmm… more hot fudge and whipped cream, please," mumbled Patamon.

  "Patamon, wake up!" hissed TK, shaking the winged digimon awake.

  "Aw, TK, I was having the most wonderful dream!" whined Patamon.  "Why did you have to wake me up?"

  "I had a dream, and Myotismon was in it!" TK whispered.

  "Myotismon?  I thought he was dead."

  "He told me he was good, and that Daemon was coming.  And he wanted me to thank you for some reason."

  "What?" Patamon asked, his eyes wide open.  "Excuse me, but could you open the window?"

  Without asking why, TK listlessly walked over to the window next to his futon and opened it, letting the cold air in.  Patamon flew outside and began to glow.

  "Patamon, digivolve to… ANGEMON!  Don't worry, TK, I'll be back tomorrow.  Go to sleep and do not worry about me."  Angemon flew through the night sky towards the TV station.  He was going to visit Myotismon in his castle.  As he flew over the great city of Tokyo, he had a feeling that something terrible was going to happen to all of the digi-destined, especially one in particular.  It was the one he had just heard about.  Tali.

  Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Tai awoke right after his dream occurred.  "Why is it I feel as if I'm going to regret what I did in the dream?" he asked.  "Hey Kari!"  He shook his sister awake.

  "Huh?  What is it, Tai?" asked the brown-haired girl, opening her wide brown eyes.

  "Did you have a dream about Myotismon?" asked Tai.  "I know I did."

  "How did you know?" asked Kari.

  "I had the same dream…  I think it means something."

  Kari sighed.  "I'll remember, I think."  She looked out the window, and saw the angel digimon's white silhouette set off by the velvet blue sky dotted with stars.  "There's angels watching over us, so no one can hurt us."

Next chapter soon!  The plot will thicken as Angemon and Myotismon reflect on Myo's life, and there will be an alternate universe telling what would have happened if Myo had won!  See you soon!


	7. A Vampire's Reflection

A/N: Cool chapter alert!  Also seems to be delayed, but that's what happens when you don't have enough time on your hands…  Anyway I hope you all enjoy, and I'd have to say that the biggest cliché of all in this fic is on the review panel… I got about five "Yay!  Wizzy didn't die!"s on there.  OK, here's the chapter, with no clichés up here, but with an alternate universe!  BTW, Wizardmon will have a lot of air time in the next few chapters.  Daemon will have plenty of air time in the final three chapters after this one.  In the meantime, read, review, and **ENJOY!**

Chapter 7

A Vampire's Reflection

  Angemon arrived at the closed TV station and entered through a loose panel on the dome part where the portal was located.  The glowing light signified the open portal, so the angel flew through and entered Myotismon's castle.

  The castle seemed quite different than it had been when he last visited it as Patamon.  The air was warmer, and it was more brightly lit.  Plus he could wander the halls without getting queasy or confused.  Last time the halls had— literally— been a maze that had reminded him of a painting he had once seen, with staircases and passageways leading in different directions, but with a more horrific feel to it.  Now the air didn't make him want to shiver, and the halls could be navigated more easily.

  The angel digimon slowly walked through the empty halls, which had no henchmen or Bakemon servants running or flying around.  Either they had all been put to death or had been set free.  According to the dream TK had, Myotismon must have set the servants free and let them stay if they desired.  Angemon was beginning to feel more comfortable, a feeling he did not possess when an aura of evil was around.

  He could not smell the foul stench of evil or hatred in the air, like he had on Infinity Mountain or Spiral Mountain, and even in the castle.  None of the other digimon could smell it, but being an angel digimon, Angemon could smell evil.  A few traces lingered in the air, but it was from the past.  Of all the places that reeked of evil, Myotismon's castle was the worst of all.  As Patamon, he did not have the sense, but after digivolving as Myotismon did his evil deeds in Odaiba, the city began to reek of evil.

  The angel took off on his six white wings and flew down the halls, which were softly lit by torches.  He could hear the pounding rain on the walls and on the windows, which only revealed a pitch-black sky.  Once in a while, a few Bakemon flew past and gaped at him because they didn't know what an angel was doing in a vampire's castle.  Finally he landed in front of the double wooden doors that led to the study, and without knocking, he entered.

  "Myotismon?  I'm here for you," said Angemon as his wings folded back into a resting position on his back and as he walked along the stone floor.  He gazed around, searching for the vampire and examining the surroundings.  "I know you are a good digimon.  It's me, Angemon.  Please don't hurt me if it's not true what you told TK in his dream."

  Then he saw a blazing fire in a fireplace and a large chair in front of it, facing the fire.    Myotismon was sitting in the chair, his head leaning on his right hand, which was perched on the arm of the chair.  He was staring into the fire, which reflected in his blue eyes.  An open book lay in his lap and the same glass of red wine lay untouched on the table on the left side of the chair.  He looked generally harmless.

  "Are you feeling fine?" asked Angemon.  "Did you really give TK the dream?"

  "Angemon?" asked the vampire, turning his head around and seeing the angel digimon standing near the chair.  "What are you doing here?"  An air of calmness was in his voice.

  "I am here because I know how you feel, and how your experience has changed you," replied the angel.  "I am an angel digimon, you know."  He found another chair facing the fire and sat in it.  It was old and had a musty smell, but the fire was warm.  Even though he tried to destroy him the last two times he was encountered, Angemon trusted Myotismon and felt as if they could have a decent conversation as the vampire could open his heart and reveal some of the past and to _why _he was like this.  "I'm sorry if this… offends you in any way, but I would like to know why you became so good in the first place.  Why after you disappeared and not before you did so."

  "It is a very long story, Angemon," replied Myotismon.  "I do not know exactly when it started.  It might have started back to Gennai's day, when his data created my digiegg; or the infamous email viruses and nightmares of the humans who were infected, infected my digi-egg and turned me into a virus; or when I was abandoned by all the others in Primary Village many, many years ago…"  He stared into the fire, and the flames danced before his and the angel's eyes.  "But I became completely good after the transition through a gate… it was your Gate of Destiny.  It lives up to its name.  It altered my destiny, and it truly was a gate of destiny.  Maybe my destiny was not to be the king of both worlds, but to redeem myself and get a digi-destined."

  "You have a digi-destined?" asked Angemon.  Then he remembered.  "Oh, you are talking about Tali.  TK talked about her.  She seemed like a nice girl, according to his description of her.  He did not mention you except when he said, 'I'm so glad we didn't have to search for her when Myotismon was attacking the real world.'  I don't think he knew about you having the remarkable connection to her."

  "I know she was afraid to tell them.  If she did say I was her digimon, the others would abandon her and possibly make her evil…  like they made me… or their digimon would attack her and come after me again without knowing I changed or anything."

  "I am one of their digimon.  I know you changed.  Of course, I did not really think so before you came to TK in his dream.  But that is why mistakes can be mended.  No matter…"  Angemon paused.  "No matter how drastic they may be."  With a wave of his hand, the fire glowed and grew warmer.  He stared into the fire.  "I know what you have done may have been more than just a bit… unorthodox, but think about where the digi-destined would have been without you around.  Where would YOUR digi-destined have been?"

  "With her family, all the members alive and well."

  "I know that might have been an accident, except for the mother.  Someday I know she will think of you as her family.  It might take some time to adjust to, but…"  Angemon trailed off, staring into the fire.  He could remember one night when he was Patamon the night before everyone was in the convention center, he flew over just to get a good look at what was happening and came across something he wished he could get out of his mind… it also explained why he was so weak and hungry that next morning when he woke up in bed.  He had told no one about it.

  The angel, as the mere rookie of Patamon, was taking his nightly flight around Tokyo to see if he could talk with Palmon when he saw something peculiar coming from the convention center and the TV station.  It looked like white dots at first, but he realized it was actually Bakemon.

  "Heh, I eat a lot of roast beef, I try to fly it off, and I end up defending the convention center from a group of Bakemon…" muttered the bat pig.  "Oh well I had better go over there to see what's REALLY going on."  He flapped and flapped his wings with all his might, with each passing flap taking him closer than ever to the TV station.  He remembered it well because Matt had taken him there as a side trip, and he had a pretty good idea of what was there.

  Patamon landed in front of the doors to the TV station and snuck around to the backside, where he was sure the Bakemon couldn't exit.  He flew up to the handle, but found out it was locked.

  "Shoot!" he exclaimed, pouting.  Suddenly he heard a banging coming from the other side.

  "Hey, the damn door's locked!" shouted a raspy yet haunting voice that could have only come from a Bakemon.  The door vibrated with a bang.  Patamon knew he had been caught.

  "Dontcha worry, I have the key," declared a second Bakemon.  There was the sound of jangling metal, and then the rattling of the door.

  Patamon knew he had been caught.  Suddenly he saw two garbage cans near the door, and he quickly flew over to the cans, pushed the lid off, went inside, and closed the lid with a clang, leaving enough room to see what was going on.  It reeked inside the garbage can, and the bat-winged digimon was desperately in need of fresh air, but he needed to see when the guards were leaving.

  Two white-sheeted Bakemon flew out the door, and looked around.  Suddenly one of them eyed the garbage can and flew over.  Patamon tried as much as possible to conceal himself beneath a few old newspapers, trying his best to ignore the rotten fruit underneath his feet.  He held his breath and urged himself not to move.

  "Hey look at this!" exclaimed the first ghost digimon, who was no doubt the stupider of the two.  "A free meal!"  He sniffed the air.  "Mmmmmmm, I smell fish heads!"

  The second Bakemon slapped his work partner.  "Hey, we're not supposed to be eating!  We're supposed to be working and keeping a lookout for workers at the TV station.  We can't take any chances.  The master will have our heads!"

  The two of them flew around and over the fence that surrounded the TV station in the middle of the city.  Patamon grabbed his chance and quickly leapt out of the can, making a huge clang and tipping the can over.  Then he flew on his smelly wings into the station.  The first thing he needed to find was a bathroom, and then to find out what was going on so he could tell the digi-destined.

  Five minutes later, after taking a quick bath of cold sink water and dispensed liquid soap, Patamon smelled considerably better, and according to him, the garbage can odor was gone.  So he flew out of the bathroom and down the empty halls, which were dark and eerie, like the duct to a vent.  Also, it was silent.  Too silent.

  Then a group of Bakemon flew up to Patamon and surrounded him in a dome of hideous, grotesque white ghosts.  The bat-winged digimon was too scared even to move, but he let out a shrill cry and tears spurted out of his eyes.  "WAAAAAAAAH!  I WANT TK!" he screamed.

  "DARK CLAW!" shouted all the ghost digimon at once, sending out huge blasts of dark energy that battered up Patamon so much, bruises and scrapes were all over his body, and he was moaning in pain.

  "Boom… bubble…"  Patamon let out a small burst of wind that only hit one of the Bakemon and only made him laugh.

  "Ow.  That hurts," said the ghost sarcastically.  "Come on, guys.  If he's not one of us he's one of THEM.  And you know how we all feel about THEM."

  All of the Bakemon opened their mouths wide and their arms up, prepared to attack and in their attacking position.

  "Please… help…" gasped Patamon.  Back in TK's apartment, the blonde bearer of hope clutched his digivice tightly, and it began to glow a brilliant saffron yellow.  So did the bat-winged orange digimon.

  The Bakemon all gasped and backed away.

  "Patamon, digivolve to… ANGEMON!"  Suddenly, in the center of the barricade of ghosts, the angel digimon stood, brandishing his rod and preparing to attack.  "Move out of the way, and do not make it harder than it is!"  He took his hand and made a bright beam of light shine out of it, seemingly scorching the ghosts' sensitive eyes.  He spread his wings and flew down the hall, exhausted but with a sense of preserverance.

  Suddenly his flight halted.  There was a foul stench in the air, and it had nothing to do with him.  At first it was confusing, but he knew it was evil.  The stench was the same in Devimon's fortress on Infinity Mountain.  Only this one was worse, and he knew it was evil.  The stench was the strongest down the hall, behind a door.  It smelled worse than something rotten, because it was pure evil behind the door, and he actually would have rather been back in the trash can.  No one could smell good or evil like an angel could.

  There were muffled crashes and yelling coming from behind the unlocked metal door.  Angemon was afraid to peer through the door and see what exactly was occurring.  But he quickly gathered his courage and held his breath, silently opening the door.  Then he saw one of the most disturbing sights he had ever seen in his life in the empty office.  Its furniture was moved to the sides of the room, and the windows were open.

  "Are you one of them?" asked Myotismon, holding a whip of his Crimson Lightning.  A few bats were flying around.

  "Look, fangy, I don't know what you're talking about!" shouted a man who apparently worked at the TV station.  "We're doing our jobs when these ghosts tie us up and stuff us in the closets and then you come out and ask us these questions you expect us to know the answers to.  I don't know what you mean!"

  "Are you with the digi-destined brats or not?" questioned the vampire, taking the man by the wrists and pinning him to the walls.

  "I—I don't know what you are talking about!" insisted the worker.  "Now let us go!"

  "Will you talk?  Where are you hiding the eighth child?"

  "I DON'T KNOW!"

  "Well…"  Myotismon bared his fangs in a sinister grin.  "Then we will need to make you.  GRISLY WING!"  A ton of fluttering bats flew out from his cape and started gnawing on the man and the four other men in the room, tearing off their skin and making them cry out as they swatted at them and pulled out clumps of their hair, revealing a bloody scalp.  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  The whip of lightning hit the workers across the chest, forcing them to double over as they got shocked.  Then the one who didn't know anything was whipped across the face, leaving everything burned and bleeding.  Blood was flowing out of his nose and mouth as he cried out with every blast.  "Will you talk now, or will I kill you all?"  He snapped his fingers, and his bats ceased their attacking.

  Angemon gasped, and then gathered his courage.  Though he was not a human, he felt the compassion for all the innocent humans who were killed by the vampire's wrongdoings.  He burst through the door.  "LEAVE THEM ALONE!" he cried.

  Myotismon turned his head around and saw Angemon entering the room.  He shielded himself from the brilliant light that filled the room.  The five workers lifted their heads as if in prayer or awe at this miracle.

  "Angemon!  The children must be very desperate.  Tell me, are these humans yours?" asked the vampire.  He grabbed the first one by the collar and thrusted him forward.  "Take them.  They won't tell me anything, and if you want their miserable lives to be spared, you will need to fight me."

  "Then fight I shall," declared the angel.  "HAND OF FATE!"  He blasted a beam at Myotismon's chest, but he was so formidable that he didn't do as much as bend over.

  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  Myotismon sent out a huge whip of Crimson Lightning, and whipped the angel across the chest.  It burned his white suit to his chest, and it burned slightly, but Angemon would not give up, despite his energy being drained.  "Would you like some more?"

  "I was going to ask you the same thing, vampire boy," said Angemon.  He only had one chance, because his energy was being drained quickly.  "ANGEL ROD!"  He swung his rod, and whacked the vampire across the face and upper torso with it.

  "RRR!" fumed Myotismon.  He grabbed the rod out of the angel's hands and made it glow a bright crimson.  "Never mess with me!  CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  He hurled the rod directly at Angemon, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to fly out the window to the front of the TV station.  "And take your humans too!"  He pushed the five humans out of the window as well, and they landed on top of Angemon.

  Time passed slowly, when the Angel lay on the ground, then de-digivolved to Patamon.  He didn't know what would have become of him if Mr. Ishida hadn't had his beeper on.  According to his story, one of his junior workers was minding his own business when he saw the pile of humans in front of the station, apparently lying on top of an orange bat pig.  Matt's dad rushed over to the station as quickly as possible, and saw Patamon in the mess.  Recognizing him as TK's digimon, he called the emergency room to send an ambulance for the workers and took Patamon to the Takaishi's personally.

  When TK woke up, he didn't have a clue about what had happened the night before.  Patamon refused to utter a word about his loss the night before, and to why he was so exhausted and asked for seconds and thirds at breakfast.

  Angemon had decided not to tell the story to Myotismon; it would only dishearten him even more.  He was already so depressed about what he had done.  Instead, he decided to change the subject.  "The world is in so much better condition than it would have been if you had taken charge of both," he declared.

  "How would you know?" asked the vampire.

  Angemon cracked a smile on his usually expressionless face.  "My Gate of Destiny does a lot more than conceal a digimon within its walls," he said.  With a wave of his hand, a small portal lit up in the middle of the fire.  "Now watch the image that appears in the fire."  The portal grew larger until it was about two feet tall and had the same width.  Then it revealed the alternate universe.

  A cold wind blew across the grayish dusty ground, which was set off by the eternally-black sky.  The sun was completely blocked out, and all humans would have given anything to see the glowing yellow star again.  If only they hadn't taken the sun for granted.  The water, though still fit for consumption, was now a dark gray.  Plants had withered away and had become a dry brown.

  Fruits, grains, and vegetables were now a luxury to have, and all humans had been deprived of all "normal" foods.  Their daily intake was a bowl of watery chicken soup for breakfast, a slice of dry bread for lunch, and soup with bread for dinner, with maybe a boiled potato.  Sometimes the luckier humans were alotted a fish or two.  Humans were now weak and pale, and were praying for this hell to end.

  The cities were much different as well.  Tokyo had become the capital city of the merged world.  Digimon were scurrying about the place, surveying every city in the world, from the larger ones like New York and Paris to the smallest cities in tiny unimportant countries, making sure no one defied the rules of their new master.  All humans who lived in Tokyo were automatically servants of the king of all the merged worlds.

  In the heart of Tokyo was a small mountain that had been erected where the TV station and convention center once were.  The castle was Nightmare Castle, and it was a large, black sinister castle with a huge thundercloud hovering over it and was constantly surrounded by bats and ghosts, and a moat filled with white tentacles that belonged to the Gesomon.

  And inside the castle was the one who ruled it all.  Standing on the balcony, especially regal in his black cape and new black suit, was Myotismon.  He was now known as Emperor Myotismon, the ruler of all the worlds.  He was no longer just a Vampire Lord of Server.  He was now the Vampire Lord of All Worlds.  The real and digital worlds were his.  Just thinking about it made him tingle with pleasure.

  "Master?" asked a small voice from two feet above the ground.

  Myotismon turned his head and glared at Wizardmon, who was on the ground.  "What is it?" he asked.

  "Everything is fine, master," replied the young wizard.  "I would like to tell you what a wonderful job you are doing of ruling the world."  Wizardmon refused to say anything negative about the king of all worlds, lest he be put to death.  "It is just wonderful that you attacked Kari and Gatomon, killing them, and then using the crest to defeat the digi-destined."  A tear formed in Wizardmon's eye, just thinking about it.  It was just devastating that all his friends, the only ones he had in his life anymore, were taken away from him like everything else.  His freedom…  Everyone's freedom…

  Freedom.  It was a funny word.  Everyone took freedom for granted before the vampire began his eternal reign of night over the world.  They had complained that they didn't have enough rights, but even a couple rights would have been the greatest thing in the world.

  "I know it is," said Myotismon.  He looked over the city of Tokyo, knowing that the digi-destined, after they were found, would be put to death so he had no one to crush.  Even the previously defeated enemies and the Dark Masters— how he hated them so!— bowed down before him.  He loved the feeling every time he called one of them in and they— even the powerful ones like Ladydevimon, Piedmon, and even Daemon!— bowed before him.  Dark Towers were implanted everywhere, sprouting up like the common weed.  Every time one had been knocked down in some way, two had been implanted in its place.  The Dark Towers surveyed everything that was happening everywhere in the world.

  "Master!  Master!"  Demidevimon flew onto the balcony and flapped his wings around.  "The last of the Dark Towers has been implanted underneath the sea, so not even those water digimon you keep complaining about won't disobey your orders now!"

  The vampire king bared his fangs in a sinister grin.  "Excellent," he said.  His bats fluttered their wings on the ceiling.

  A Bakemon flew into the room.  "Master, your girls have been chosen," he said.  "I hope these are better for you than the last group of them, and that you may FINALLY choose the one who may give you her hand in marriage."

  A line of five girls walked apprehensively into the room, shaking with fear.  They were all beautiful.  One of them had auburn hair and green eyes.  Her name was Tali Nadir.  Myotismon went over to the fivesome, inspecting each one.  He reached a girl with blonde hair and green eyes and cradled her chin in his hand.  He glared at her with his ice blue eyes and seemed to drain her power with that glare, because she fell limp.  Then he proceeded to another, and another, repeating the process.

  "Why can none of these please me?" he shouted to the Bakemon.  "I should be pleased with all I have done, but I seem displeased now."

  The ghost shuddered as he reached Tali.  He cradled her chin in his hand, pinching it.  "Well, you don't seem like much of a prize," he declared.  "Lock her up, and I hope I may never see you again!"

  "Who are you?" asked Tali.  "And why do I think I know you from another time in my life?"

  The vampire sighed as he stared at the scene in front of him from his castle balcony.  The real and digital worlds had been merged, enveloped in darkness, and slowly withered away until it was nothing but a wasteland.  And the world was his.  Still there was something that did not seem right.  The scene fast-forward to when he rested in his chair hours later, sipping a glass of red wine, and was thinking.

  "I know that I should be content, but I wish for more than this," he said to himself.  "The prized jewel of the real world is mine, and all humans are at my command.  Still, I need more.  I need more power to be the ruler of ALL worlds and all time.  The past, the future, the alternate universes, and most of all, this human universe."

  "You know, that is impossible," said Demidevimon.  "I heard you musing in here and I decided to eaves— I mean, add to the conversation a bit."  He flew up to the chair and perched on top, carefully avoiding the bats that were in the said area, then shuddered as he saw the winged creatures on the ceiling.  "I bet it's really hard to take over the alternate universes and all that crap, so why start now?  You've wanted to be the king of the real world since you took me in, maybe even before then, and now you want MORE???  Does this mean you'll be hanging me over the hell pit if I can't get the leaders of the future to cough up enough money or something?"

  "If you can't get Devimon and Piedmon to do their jobs right," replied Myotismon.  "And they had better not fail or I will have your head.  I can trust them, and don't think they are such a pain in the ass as you or that stupid overrated rock monkey who called himself a villain."

  "So that's why you slaughtered Etamon!" Demidevimon exclaimed.

  "I will formulate the plans, and you will not mess them up, or I will make sure my bats have you as their next chew toy."

  "Will do, master," said the imp, trembling and backing out of the room.

  Once again, Myotismon let out a long sigh.  It would be a long time until he controlled all the worlds.

  "And that is what would have happened if you had won," replied Angemon.

  "And how did I do it, exactly?" wondered Myotismon.

  "Well…" the angel rubbed his chin in thought.  "well… I think I saw it once.  If you had attacked Tai and Greymon with your Grisly Wing attack and then finished them off with your Crimson Lightning, therefore destroying the leader of the group and causing absolute pandemonium, you would have won against all the digi-destined.  If you had attacked Kari and Gatomon, that's a completely different story I prefer not to tell you about."

  "It might have been the best thing when I attacked you.  If not, I would have never found the error of my ways."

  "To tell you the truth, I didn't know that, exactly.  I just wanted to confine any evil digimon I could inside the gate so the worlds could be safe.  I had no idea it would send a digimon to the Dark Ocean.  In my opinion, it's sort of like a hell or limbo for certain digimon that have either been evil or have accidentally travelled through the gate.  I knew about it since Gennai told me about it, but I haven't bothered to tell TK about it."

  "It's best he doesn't hear about it.  Marinedevimon rules there, and I don't know what TK would think of him.  And so does Daemon.  He's much worse, and he liked to mock me.  He stole my power and attacked me with it, for pure mockery.  He didn't know that he actually made me a good digimon."

  "If I had been you, it would have taken a lot more than Daemon and his henchmen to cure me of my malevolence."

  "You are an angel.  You haven't felt what I have.  So many terrible things have happened to me in my life.  When I was a baby digimon and all those like me abandoned and isolated me… to when I was kidnapped as a Demidevimon… to when I finally digivolved and Toxidramon gave me the scar that spanned my face, which forced me to wear a mask to conceal it…"

  "Can I see?" wondered Angemon.  Myotismon had worn his mask throughout his visit.  "I was always wondering about why you wore it…"

  The vampire reluctantly removed his mask, revealing the remainder of his handsome face.  The only imperfection on it was the faint red lightning bolt scar that ran between his eyes.  Angemon gasped as he saw that it looked exactly like a bolt of his Crimson Lightning.

  "I believe that is the source of your Crimson Lightning attack," said the angel.  "Tell me, were you a slave to Toxidramon?"

  "Yes," admitted Myotismon.  "I was once the lowest slave towards a greedy digimon who wanted to take over the digital world, and the day I digivolved to Devidramon that jerk fought me for defying his so-called authority and attacked me with his horn, leaving a nasty deep cut between my eyes, which healed to become a scar that I wanted to hide.  The day I digivolved to ultimate, the mask came to me, and I attacked with a lightning bolt that bore a remarkable resemblance to that scar Toxidramon gave me."

  Angemon realized something that seemed very important.  "I understand everything!  The past became so agonizing it left two scars: emotional AND physical, and you wanted to just hide it from everyone so they wouldn't know about anything that happened!  Though you had a mask that concealed everything, the Crimson Lightning was an exact replica of that scar on your face, and you USED that Crimson Lightning to torture your henchmen like the Toxidramon did to you in the PAST!  You had used your past to harm others!"  He had never intended to be so angry or to raise his voice that way.

  "I know, and I hate it all!" shouted Myotismon.  He waved his hand in the direction in the doors and said, "Please leave.  I need to be alone for a while."  As Angemon stood up to leave, he added one more thing.  "Oh, and Angemon?"

  The angel turned his head around.

  "Thank you so much.  If you hadn't confined me in the Gate of Destiny, I would have never found the error of my ways."

  Angemon bowed respectfully, an action he would have never once thought of doing before an evil digimon, especially Myotismon.  Then he spread his white wings and left the room without a trace.

  "This is me," said the vampire, examining his mask.  "This damn mask is me!  Hiding my past for pure evil and intimidation… no more of that!"  He stood up and hurled the red mask he had treasured so much, the part of him that he was so well-known for having, into the heart of the flames, where it burnt to a crisp and smoldered in less than thirty seconds.  Myotismon knew he had let go of much of the angst of his past that weighed down his heart.  All he needed to do was repay the debt he held towards the digi-destined.  There was only one way to do so, and that was to defeat Daemon.

  Still, one thought kept him from being more light-hearted.  "Why is it that part of me wished I had controlled the real world?  Could it be that I am turning evil again?"

To be continued…

Three chapters to go!  Yes, I will miss writing it.  Oh, and sorry that took so long!


	8. Nightmare

A/N: **Sorry THIS addition took so long too!**  I've been looking forward to put it up for a very long time.  This is the final flashback chapter because 1) the present storyline is kinda more important and 2) I'm running out of ideas.  Whether the next one or the one after that is the last chapter, I do not know.  All I know is that I will finish it before my birthday.  And now, chapter 8!  The flashback bridges into "My Master's Voice," sort of.  It also gives a little hint about what will happen not only in "My Master's Voice," but the end of the story if you interpret something correctly…  This is a bit short but Enjoy!  BTW, now that the marching band season is over, I have a lot more time on my hands.

Chapter 8

Nightmare

  After Angemon left and Myotismon was at his lonesome again, the vampire watched the slowly decaying fire.  The large blaze had dissipated to a few small flames, struggling to lick the air and stay there.  He noticed Wizardmon, and Demidevimon lying on the floor, curled up in a position that helped their bodies get warmth from the fire.  The vampire smiled to himself, knowing they were happy with the way things were.

  If Gatomon had been there, she would have been securely curled up in Wizardmon's arms, smiling and even blushing.  Myo didn't mind then, but he would have before he was sent through the Gate.

  It happened a short time after Gatomon and Wizardmon had gotten together.  Myotismon had revealed what might have been loving feelings for Gatomon, when he was walking down the hall to check on Gatomon.  She had recently been injured in an accident, and the vampire wished to see if she was fine.  He heard noises coming from the room she was supposedly in, so he wondered if the cat was in pain.  When he opened the door, he saw Gatomon curled up in Wizardmon's arms, the wizard planting a soft kiss on her forehead.  Gatomon giggled so high, it could have shattered glass.

  At that point, Myotismon saw that Gatomon seemed to care more for that damn wizard… the very wizard he kicked out of his castle… than she did him.  His face was tinged with crimson, and his eyes began to sting.  He didn't know why, but it seemed to have to do with Gatomon with Wizardmon, seeming to share an intimate relationship.  Maybe it was that, or maybe it was a burst of rage that he had kept bottled up inside, but for some reason, he felt thoroughly provoked to do what he did.

  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  A bolt of Crimson Lightning flashed out of his hand and hit Gatomon right across the face.

  "AAAAAAAAAAI!" screamed the cat digimon.  Her eyes sprang open and she leapt out of bed.

  Wizardmon also awoke.  "What was that?" he asked, rubbing his eyes open.

  The two champion digimon saw, accented by the soft firelight in the hall, a furious Myotismon standing in the doorway.  They didn't know why he appeared to be so angry, but maybe it had to do with them being together.

  "Master Myotismon?" asked Gatomon meekly.  "What are you doing here?"

  The vampire lifted her into the air by the scruff of her neck and threatened her with clenched teeth, "Never let me catch you two in the same room again.  If you even do so much as make eye contact…"  He looked around and saw a statue, then whipped it hard with his Crimson Lightning.  It hit directly in the center, and the force was so great and direct, the statue exploded.  Chunks of marble flew everywhere, and Gatomon and Wizardmon shielded their heads.  "…this is what is going to happen to you."

  The cat and the wizard were too terrified to even think of making eye contact, so Gatomon silently left the room with her master, who kept a straight face and looked ahead.

  "Lord Myotismon, I can promise you that you are my one and only, the only digimon I want in my life," declared Gatomon, out of fear.  She looked sadly at Myotismon, who immediately ceased his brisk walk down the hall.

  "I see through your web of lies," said the vampire.  "Apparently Wizardmon has gotten trapped in it somehow, judging by what I had witnessed."

  "I am not going to lie to you, master," said the white cat, looking up at him with melancholy eyes.  "I do show affection for Wizardmon, but also you.  I have decided that Wizardmon does have more to him than you.  He's kind… and generous… and loves me for who I am… and has never ever whipped me to death because of my eyes, or kidnapped me…"  she trailed off, fearful of the consequences.

  "You just go," said Myotismon, waving his hand down the hall.  "I've had enough.  You stay away from Wizardmon, and I know if you are anywhere near him."

  "But… master…" Gatomon pleaded with childlike eyes, "… I love you too…"

  "Just go away and leave me alone," said Myotismon, concealing his eyes with his hands.  "Leave me here or you will be fed to whatever digimon is here…"  He heard the sensitive cat digimon dash down the halls, and he felt a large pain in his chest, as if he had suffered a heartbreak.  He hated Gatomon now, when before he had learned to not only tolerate her existence, but appreciate it and feel affection for it.  Now all feelings for her had been shattered, and he was once again the heartless steel-eyed villain that he had almost always been.

  To ensure this, Wizardmon had been locked away where Gatomon couldn't find him, and the cat had been surveying missions with a heavy heart.  The vampire loved seeing her alone, and loved it even more that Wizardmon was gone.  He dispised them both now, which made everything harder than it was for all three of them.

  One day, the wizard was finally let out of prison.  Myotismon called him, Gatomon, and Demidevimon into his study to speak with them.  The three of them stood on the floor, as still and motionless as statues.  They stared straight forward, as if fixated on their master's every motion.

  "You three have shown that you… at least two of you, are quite competent henchmen," declared the vampire.  "That is why I wish for you to go to the real world with me, to help take over that world and envelop it in eternal darkness."  He ceased speaking as he saw Gatomon glance at Wizardmon, who smiled back at her.  "Did I just see you two making eye contact?" he asked.  He saw the two champions look straight at him.  "I know what I saw, and you two have shown a little more than just a few romantic sparks flying between you two."  He frowned slightly, and drew out a whip of Crimson Lightning.  "This ought to teach you!  CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"

  Two whips, and Wizardmon crashed to the ground, then scrambled back to his feet and backed away.  Five whips, each seconds apart so the whip hurt even more.  Gatomon cried out louder and louder, with Demidevimon covering the sides of his head.  Finally, five deep wounds had appeared on Gatomon's back, and blood gushed out of the wounds, forming rivers through her white fur.  She began crying and crying until she just buried her head into the ground and screamed.

  "What are you looking at, Demidevimon?" questioned the vampire.  "Shall I kill you?"

  The imp said nothing; he flew out of the room.  Wizardmon followed, but he ran away, forgetting about Gatomon, who was whimpering on the ground, blood trickling onto the ground into a puddle.  Finally, Myotismon gave the champion cat digimon a final kick in the side and left the room.

  He had lost sleep over that, staring into the fire.  He was so evil to begin with, and a virus type.  Not to mention he was also a vampire… an ultimate… a VIRUS.  Evil was in his heart and soul to begin with.  Or possibly he didn't even have a heart and a soul.  It burned in his mind as he slept in a bed, not his coffin.  The coffin seemed very unappealing for sleep.

  _Am I still evil, despite changing my ways?_ thought the ultimate digimon as he closed his eyes tightly and tried to sleep.  _I can't believe how terrible I really was in my past, and still just as evil today.  I killed two humans, but I seem to want to dominate the world… somehow that sort of world sounds like the best place for me to rule._

  After over an hour of tossing and turning, feeling pain in his heart, mind, and soul for all the evildoings that he had done to the beings of all worlds, yet feeling he should have been a leader, he finally fell asleep.  The sleep was hot and uncomfortable, and it had nothing to do with the conditions of the bed.  The king of the nightmares, the vision always seen in nightmares, the digimon most likely to be in a nightmare, HAD a nightmare.

  The nightmare began in what appeared to be the very world he and Angemon had envisioned.  All there was was a gray wasteland with control spires popping up like weeds, and the ones that had matured towered above all like skyscrapers, extending into the sky.  Tokyo was in the distance, and there was a tall gray mountain with a faint outline of a sinister black castle on it in the distance.  There were no humans or digimon to be seen.

  "Who do we have here?" a familiar voice boomed.  Myotismon recognized the voice as his own.  A cloud of bats swooped down from the sky and fluttered above the ground.  They parted in two flocks to reveal… Myotismon.  Only this one was the one from the past, lean and militant, a stony expression on his face.  He was donning the red mask which he was so well-known for.  "It's me, gone to waste.  You are a disgrace to me.  I should have never become this."

  "You would have been better off as this!" pleaded the real Myotismon.  "The past has tormented me but I have become a good digimon."

  "What good have you done?" asked the other Myotismon.  "From my point of view, you only made things worse.  You killed the only people that your digi-destined loved and cherished."  He bared his fangs in a sinister grin.  "You might be truly evil after all."

  "NO!" shouted the vampire.  He leapt forward and attempted to shove the evil version of himself to the ground, but the evil version seemed to be attached to the ground and immobile when it came to being pushed over.  The evil vampire took his good verson —the REAL Myo— and shoved him to the ground.

  "You have always been persistent, a quality that led me to a takeover of all the worlds that I desired," said the evil version of Myotismon.  He took out a whip of Crimson Lightning, forming a very long whip that touched the ground and glowed with an air of power and evil.  "But, your turning aside from evil and denying the innate evil that came with being a Virus that is always within you has provoked me to do this.  CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"

  The whip lashed down—hard.  Every whip brought back the painful memories of him whipping his own henchmen.  He wanted it to stop, but the whip crashed down nearly continuously, with intervals long enough to bring sharp pain to his back, possibly even drawing blood, and then when the whip lashed the flesh again, the pain grew worse than ever.

  "Please," pleaded the real Myotismon.  "Cease the whipping, for the love of Azulongmon, cease it!"

  "Why?" asked the other vampire.  "You loved this.  Now I know why you love it so.  Bringing others pain is so delicious.  So delicious," he repeated.

  That brought the real vampire to another flashback, remembering himself saying "Seeing you writhe for your life is so delicious."  That made him realize that obviously it wasn't delicious at all, more like the bitter taste of hatred.

  Finally, the Myotismon from the past decided to cease his whipping.  Both of them were breathing heavily, the real one choking on his own breath, struggling to breathe.  He could feel something warm and wet running down his back.  As he looked up, the other Myo was gone, and he was once again at his lonesome, on his hands and knees, too exhausted to stand up.

  A distant humming filled the air, overpowered by a strong wind.  Eleven long shadows covered the ground, each a different shape, but most were in the shape of tall humanoid digimon.

  "This is what you call legendary?" scoffed a voice that sounded like a young man's.  "If you call that poor excuse for a villain LEGENDARY, then I guess I'm a small fry.  He's too skinny, he's too weak to stand up, and he's bleeding from some rookie's attacks!  And what is he, an ultimate?  A champion I can understand, but an ULTIMATE????"  The keeper of the voice was a large sea serpent that towered above most of the control spires, most of his body plated in gold.  As Myotismon turned around to see who the voice belonged to, the sea serpent lowered himself towards the ground.  "Allow me to introduce myself.  I am Lord Metalseadramon, the first Dark Master.  It took a MEGA to take me down."

  "Ha!" laughed one that looked like a machine dragon.  "I am Lord Machinedramon.  I would have still ruled if not for my damn henchmen.  But all the good ones were taken.  At least I got further than you ever did."

  "I'm younger and I took over the forest!" bragged a wooden puppet who was holding a large hammer.  "I am Puppetmon."

  Finally, a jester spoke up.  "I am Lord Piedmon, their leader," he said to the cowering vampire.  "I was king of the land until Magna Angemon pulled me into his Gate of Destiny.  It might be hell, but there I'm a better villain than you ever were.  No demon's snide remarks or silly clown tricks can let the curtain go down on me."

  "Clown tricks?" asked Etamon.  "Look who's talkin'!  I'm the best of the best!"

  Daemon's eyes grew into slits, and then he threw a black ball of energy at the monkey, who yelled and disappeared.  "Anyone else want to go with him?" he threatened the nine remaining villains.  "Ah, Myotismon.  I see you have met the four Dark Masters.  Much more competent villains than you have ever been.  As you see, all the villains that have actually been some sort of threat to the digital world are here," he explained.  Devimon, Icedevimon, Marinedevimon, Skullsatamon, and Ladydevimon were there too.  "But they have not been broken down to be made a member of…" he snorted.  "Normal society.  You could have been a virus to end all viruses."

  "I took over File Island, and the digi-destined ended my rule," said Devimon.  "And you, my brother, are a disgrace and a shame to be a brother of because you have only taken over TOKYO, and gave it all up to find your digi-destined."

  "We have gained control of the digital world while the digi-destined's next act was chasing you in the real world," said Piedmon.  "I must bow to you, for you actually assisted us in this splendid show!"

  "That is terrible!" shouted the vampire.

  "Why couldn't you have been like us?" asked Daemon.  He threw a huge ball of dark energy at Myotismon, forcing him back and forcing him to be eveloped in the energy, and the vampire heard the thousands of screams that the henchmen he killed had let out as they died.  Their shadows began attacking him, enveloping him in darkness, making him feel as if he couldn't breathe, attacking him with all their might with their attacks.  Then they all clung to his body in different places and dragged him into the Dark Ocean, down towards the bottom.  They secured him there, and the ocean became darker and darker and colder as the darkness seemed to swallow him up…

  The darkness brought him into yet another dream.  This dream took place at the transition between the Gate of Destiny and the Dark Ocean.  The Gate had a transparent door, and Myotismon was able to see Daemon.  The demon was in the real world, and control spires had sprouted everywhere like weeds.  The sky was black, with flashes of crimson lightning striking the clouds and the ground.

  "Do you not love being concealed in the Gate?" asked Daemon.  He darkly chuckled to himself, and then descended to the ground.  He brought up a figure in his cloaked arms that the vampire could not recognize.  "And look, you aren't around to protect your digi-destined."  He brought the figure into the light.  Tali was lying limp in his arms, ashen-faced with her mouth open and her eyes shut, and everything taking on a distinct shade of gray.

  "Tali…" whispered Myotismon, extending his arm towards her, but he could not move.  "What have you done to her?"

  Suddenly the girl's eyes opened, to reveal that they became a glowing yellow.  Her clothes transformed into a black cloak much like Daemon's, which concealed most of her face except for her eyes.  Two horns began to protrude from her head, and she placed a pentagram pendant around her neck.  She resembled Daemon in a way.  "I have found my TRUE digimon now," she said in a strange demonic voice.

  "Right," said the devil digimon.  "And now she will destroy you like the poor excuse for a villain you are!  I have your power, and soon I will have both of your worlds!"

  Suddenly Myotismon woke up in his own room, finding that he had not been fazed in any way.  He wasn't bleeding, yet his heart was in pain.  "I need to protect my digi-destined," he said.  "I need to protect my world, as long as I don't destroy it first.  If I am truly evil, then maybe the digi-destined will be dead when I get to them, and only defeat Daemon to take over the worlds…"

  Meanwhile, Angemon had de-digivolved to Patamon after flying back to TK's apartment.  The keeper of hope was sleeping safe and sound in his bed.  The orange digimon snuggled up to TK's chin under the covers, relieved to be back home.  He fell asleep as well and began to have a nightmare of his own.

  He knew the villains were there, though he could not see them.  Patamon, as his ultimate form Magna Angemon, withdrew his sword in slow motion and slowly slashed a hole in the air, out of which came the Gate of Destiny, in its golden glory.  "GATE OF DESTINY!" he shouted.  All of a sudden, the Gate's doors opened and he seemed to be pulled back through the Gate by invisible strings tied to his wings.

  The doors closed tightly behind him… and everything gave way to the crossroads to the separate dimensions.  It was a field of stars, with the moon directly above him and the Earth directly below, as if they were two rotund guardians for the entrant.  Magna Angemon de-digivolved to Angemon, and the angel gazed at his surroundings.  "Is this actually what it looks like when I enter the Gate?" he wondered.

  Suddenly the souls of familiar and unfamiliar virus digimon flew past him as transparent images, and they passed through various portals that had appeared to be stars at first.  Some passed through to what appeared to be Primary Village to get reconfigured, and others to what appeared to be a digital Heaven, while a few traveled to the Dark Ocean.

  A cold black hand made of smoke slithered out of the Dark Ocean and grabbed the angel around his foot and began to pull him in.  No matter how hard Angemon attempted to fly away and get the hand off, he kept getting pulled in.  The harder he tried to escape, the stronger the smoke hand seemed to become.

  Angemon landed in the Dark Ocean as the portal closed behind him.  The smoke hand disappeared, and there seemed to not be any escape whatsoever.  He felt the piercing coldness of the ocean fill his body, and he could smell the unbearable stench of evil around him.  "What have I done to deserve this?" he moaned.

  "Good day, Angemon," said a deep voice that sent shivers down his spine.  The angel turned around and saw Daemon standing behind him.  "You have been safely sealed in the Dark Ocean so the world is completely ours for the taking."  Daemon darkly chuckled, then wrapped his hands around Angemon's helmet and removed it.  "Does your helmet give you your power?  We will see."  He turned around, with Angemon seeming to be too restrained to do anything about it.  He reappeared, wearing the metal helmet over his head as well as his cloak.

  "You give me back my helmet, I ORDER you!" Angemon boomed, brandishing his rod.  "ANGEL ROD!"  The rod flew like an arrow at the demon digimon, but Daemon grabbed it out of the air.  "What happened?"

  Suddenly two tentacles grabbed him around the waist and slithered like two slimy snakes around his body, covering his mouth and cutting off his air, restraining him so tightly he could not move.  A deep voice laughed, booming behind the angel and making the ground and the water violently vibrate.

  "Pull him down, Marinedevimon," said Daemon.  "Make sure he remains there as well.  I will need this power."

  Angemon tried to cry out, writhing to escape, but Marinedevimon descended into the depths of the ocean, taking the angel with him.  As he was enveloped in coldness, Angemon realized this was only a dream and could breathe, but it seemed to tell him something in a certain way.

  Then he woke up in TK's bed, as Patamon.  He let out a shrill cry that woke up the entire neighborhood.  Dogs began barking, and lights flickered on in the nearby windows.

  "TK!" shouted Ms. Takaishi, rushing to the doorway and opening the door.  "TK, is everything all-right?"

  "Huh?" asked the keeper of hope, wearily opening his eyes.  "It wasn't me."

  "Honey, is everything fine?  Did you have a nightmare?"

  "It wasn't me, mom.  It was Patamon."

  "Patamon?"  The young woman looked at the terrified orange bat-winged digimon cowering underneath the covers.  She removed the covers and looked at Patamon's face.  "TK, make sure that he doesn't do anything like that again."

  "OK mom," he replied.

  After the commotion had settled down and many of the lights had been turned off, TK began to converse with his digimon.

  "What was so awful you had a nightmare about it?" asked TK.

  "Daemon!" whispered Patamon.

  "What's a Daemon?"

  "An evil digimon who took my helmet as Angemon!"

  "They won't take your helmet.  Now go to sleep.  It's…"  the blonde boy glanced at his digital clock.  "3:28 in the morning!"  He flopped down onto his pillow and fell asleep right away.

  _TK doesn't understand this,_ thought the orange digimon.  _I think Daemon is trying to defeat me.  If there is such a thing as Daemon…  If he doesn't get the picture, maybe what happened in my dream will happen to me.  I don't want to die.  I got reconfigured, and that's enough…_  He fell asleep again as he trailed off.

  Another dream took place.  It was not a nightmare, and it did not seem too disturbing at first.  As Angemon, the digimon was wandering through a vacant space full of black and blue smoke, when he came upon a black rose growing out of nowhere.

  The angel picked up the rose and lay it in his hand, unable to do anything.  He wondered what it was about, and what it meant.  The rose seemed too delicate to touch or do anything about.  It was puzzling as well as beautiful.

  "Angemon…" whispered another voice from in front of him.  The angel looked up and he saw Myotismon standing in front of him, maskless and on the verge of tears.  "Save us…"

  The rose floated out of the angel's hands and into the vampire's, and Angemon was even more confused about what had happened.  Suddenly he saw a crystal tear form in Myo's blue eyes, and then fall onto the rose.  All it did was remain on the petals like a dewdrop. Angemon gasped as he saw more and more tears fall onto the delicate silk petals of the black rose, but not do anything except make the rose look more like a rose out of a painting.

  "Why are you weeping?" wondered the angel.  He gasped yet again as he looked at Myotismon.  Instead of tears running down his face, he was crying blood, and as the drops of crimson fluid landed on the petals of the rose, they didn't leave a stain, but rolled off and made the area white.  More and more blood fell onto the rose and swept the black off of it until the rose was pure white.

  All of a sudden, the vampire dissolved and the pure white rose's petals began to drop off, one by one.  When only about half of the petals remained, the flower withered and died as a brown twig with crinkly brown petals on it.  When Angemon reached out to touch the rose, it dissolved as well.

  He awoke to the buzzing of TK's alarm clock that next morning, still perplexed over the dream and its meaning.  He knew it meant something, but couldn't tell what it was.  Every last moment was fresh in his mind, and all traces of the Daemon dream were gone.

  At that time, Myotismon had forgotten a vital part of the memory he had of beating Gatomon to death, which took place afterwards.  He had wandered down the halls, not able to sleep early that morning.  He did not know why, but he had to do something.

  Gatomon was whimpering in her bed, still sleeping in pain.  The blood was still in her fur, and the wound was bleeding.  She winced a bit, and the vampire went up to her and gazed at her peacefully sleeping, remembering the events of not too long ago.  Why had he suddenly turned on her?  They could have been lovers, but she blew it off on Wizardmon, and he blew it off for a life of evil.

  "I'm sorry," he whispered softly.  He unbuttoned half of his suit and tore off part of it, not caring about the drafts in the castle or how he had ruined one of his suits.  Then he carefully placed the strip over Gatomon's wound and secured it tightly.  He knew he had done a good thing as he saw the blood stain part of the suit.  He walked away before Gatomon woke up, then peered through the doorway of the room.

  Gatomon opened her eyes.  "What happened?" she asked, seeing the makeshift bandage around her back.  "Who did this?"

  The vampire smiled slightly before he walked down the hall silently and was gone.  Gatomon also smiled as she realized whose suit had been sacrificed for healing.  Her dear Wizardmon would do the rest.  Maybe she would be more loyal.

  Tali awoke that morning after the big night.  She fumbled around for the way out of the portal and felt the door.  She pushed it open and snuck down the halls to her bedroom.  From there, she packed her suitcase and backpack with all the belongings that she had brought to the castle with her, and packed them carefully.  She silently walked out to the room where the portal was, keeping a lookout for any henchmen.

  She screamed and dropped her suitcase as she saw Demidevimon flying through the hall.  "AAAAAAH!"  She caught her breath.  "Demidevimon, please don't scare me like that!"

  "That's a heavy load you're carrying today," remarked the imp.  "Don't tell me you need all that for school!"

  "It's not just for school," she mumbled, looking at her feet.  "Don't tell anyone, especially not… not… Myotismon, but I'm going back to England.  I don't want to be around your master, and besides, after what he did to my family, my relatives are the only ones I have.  I'm going to live with my aunt in London."

  "Hey great!  Everybody needs a vacation!  Can I come along?"

  "Uh… no.  I want to go alone.  And tell your master that I will not return for a very long time.  Like forever."

  Demidevimon's face grew contorted in a confused expression as Tali picked up her belongings and traveled through the portal to the real world.

To be continued…


	9. Daemon's Uprising

A/N: The chapter after this is the last one, sadly… and there isn't much time left before my birthday, so I had better get going…  Enjoy this one, even if it is a bit short (for this story, anyway)!  The last chapter will be the longest and best!  I'm happy that blackmage718 helped it hit the 50-review mark too!  I'm so pleased!  ^_^  Oh, and I would have gotten this up sooner, but my grandparents came over this weekend and I had a ton to do, OK?  The chances of this getting finished before my birthday are almost zero, but I will finish it.  My b-day's tomorrow (uploaded October 29), so a review would make a good present!  :P  Thanks!

Chapter 9

Daemon's Uprising

  The next morning, Tai and the others were sitting impatiently on the steps of the school.  They saw Tali lugging three heavy bags up to the school, and she looked exhausted from everything.

  "Whoa, that's a heavy load," said Matt.  He grabbed one of the suitcases.  "Let me help you."

  "Thanks," acknowledged the auburn-haired girl.  She panted a while, setting her suitcases on the steps and sitting down hard.

  "Why so many?" wondered Sora.  "The teachers don't give too much homework, do they?  Do the English schools have less homework or something?"

  Tali looked as if she was going to cry.  "Well…  I can't tell anyone why…" she said.  "But I must say that you are such good friends for being the only ones here since I moved."  She began to break down and hug Tai, Matt, Izzy, Joe, Sora, and Mimi, one after the other.  "I love you all!"

  The digi-destined exchanged perplexed looks, then hugged her back.

  Tali kept either looking at the clock, out the window, or at a sheet of paper, where she occasionally wrote something.  Every time Tai leaned over to see what she was writing, she concealed everything and shot him a "What are you looking at?" glance.  Her plans were all written out.  At precisely three in the afternoon, when the bell rang, she would take her suitcases and backpack— minus her homework, because she wouldn't need it— and rush to the bank before it closed.  Then she would politely ask the teller for all the money from her account, and she would use whatever there was on a one-way ticket back to England, making sure the plane would leave as soon as possible.  Then, from the airport, she would call her aunt where she would hopefully answer and come for her…  she would try to go as far away from the vampire as possible.

  She looked at the clock.  It was one in the afternoon.  She had eaten lunch as far away from the digi-destined as possible so they wouldn't ask her any suspicious questions.  Right now she was in science class and had only two classes to go before she left them forever.

  "Ms. Nadir, could you please answer the question?" snapped Ms. Yamishiro, bringing her mind back to Earth.

  "Huh?" asked the keeper of the Crest of Destiny.  "Could you please repeat the question for me?"

  "Thaleia, if you had been paying attention, you would have been able to answer me," reprimanded the teacher.  "Now I want you to tell me, what is the process in which the moisture in clouds becomes rain or snow?"

  "Condensation…" whispered Tali, looking at her hands.  "And Ms… uh… Yamishiro, I have something to tell you.  Though I have not been a student in your class very long, I think you are one of the greatest teachers alive."

  Ms. Yamishiro looked taken aback for a moment.  "The answer is correct.  And thank you, Ms. Nadir, but that will not count as extra credit.  Now, the temperature must be below freezing for the water to condense into snow or ice crystals, but hail is a different story…"

  Tali stared out the window.  The sky had been clear and sunny that morning, but the clouds had gathered.  Now every inch of sky above Tokyo was blanketed by a layer of thick gray clouds.  _I hope it's good flying weather,_ she thought to herself.

  "She is the one," said Daemon, in disguise as Myotismon.  He was looking through a portal, provided by LadyDevimon.  "I want you to capture the youngest and most powerful digi-destined.  Tai and Matt will run off to save them, making Tali even more vulnerable to attack.  She is nothing without the other digi-destined.  Then, when we capture her, I will lead vampire boy to her and kill him.  The world will be mine!  LadyDevimon and Devimon, are you two prepared to capture them?"

  Both of the devil digimon bowed to Daemon and slowly slipped out of the lair.  They emerged to appear on the surface of the real world, with Tokyo in the distance and a nasty thunderstorm forming in the sky.  They looked at each other, then simultaneously flew above the city.

  "You take the boy with the bat pig," said LadyDevimon.  "I'll take the prissy little snot with the traitor cat."

  Devimon nodded to her, and he flew towards where he thought TK would be.  LadyDevimon flew to the elementary school and waited for the keeper of light to come out.  She saw Devimon there, and she nodded to him.

  The bell rang at precisely three in the afternoon, and Kari and TK got out of their desks and went to the coatroom.  They got their backpacks and went down the hall, talking.

  "Kari?" asked the blonde boy.

  "Yes?" asked the young girl.

  "Do you get the strange feeling that something bad is going to happen to us?"

  "Yes…  I feel it.  I feel the presence of evil in the air.  I've been feeling it since I was a little girl."

  "It's the homework," said a boisterous brown-haired boy, cutting between the two.  "Homework is evil and everybody knows it.  That's why I'm flunking all my classes.

  "Go away, Davis," said Kari.  As soon as the boy was out of earshot, she muttered, "Man I hate that Motomiya boy.  Anyway I think a new evil is back, like one from our past.  I think I saw someone who looked like Myotismon the other day."

  They finally reached the two doors that led to the outside, and went through together, where they were suddenly grabbed around the mouth by cold hands.  Kari saw that Devimon had grabbed TK, and LadyDevimon had her.

  Devimon grinned malevolently.  "Exactly where I want you!" he cackled.  "The master wants you."  He took off, with TK in his grasp.  The demon lady followed his lead.  Both of the humans were terrified of heights, yet the evil digimon actually kept them securely in their arms, because they wanted Daemon to take care of them personally.

  "Let go of me!" shouted Kari, squirming.

  "You shut up," hissed LadyDEvimon.  The keeper of light was so afraid she actually did shut up.  "Next time I'll let you fall to your death, so be quiet!"

  Ten minutes after what felt like ten years, the devils crashed through the window of the convention center, making chunks of glass fly all over the place and scratch against the two human children.  They both darkly chuckled as they heard them scream.  TK and Kari were led through the halls into the very room where Myotismon had kept the other children captive.

  "Hmmmm… this seems familiar," said the demon lady.  "Oh yes, it is!  I remember, it was about when our master held you captive in the very same center!  And he's back…"

  "I know he's back!" shouted TK.  "I hope I never see him again!  Now let us go!"

  Devimon chuckled.  "Oh, I could never do that," he declared.  "Without your little digimon friends to help you, you are as good as dead!"

  The second hand slowly made its way around the face of the clock, and Tali stared at it for fifteen minutes.  Suddenly, the sound she had been waiting to hear rang through the rooms.  The bell had rung, according to her plan.  She ran out of the classroom towards her locker, unaware that she had dropped a certain sheet of paper on the floor.

  She grabbed her backpack and her suitcases and ran outside, not watching out for anyone who got in her way.  She knocked them over, quickly apologizing.  Though she did not have a good sense of direction, she made it to the bank before it closed.

  "Hello, sir," she said to the teller in her best Japanese.  "My name is Thaleia Nadir, and I would like to withdraw whatever money I have."

  "My, that's a lot," replied the man behind the counter.  "Planning to go shopping with all that money?"

  "I can't tell you why, but I need it very much."

  Meanwhile, Tai and the other older digi-destined were walking back to their apartments, but not without waiting for TK and Kari near the subway station like they usually waited.  It took longer than usual, and everyone grew from patient to dubious to impatient to angry.

  "Come on, where the hell are they?" complained Matt.  "it's not like TK to be late!"

  "Just wait for them," said Sora.  "I mean, maybe they had to stay after school for something."

  "Fat chance," scoffed Matt.  "TK promised it wasn't his week to clap erasers."

  Rain started falling from the clouds, dotting the pavement.  The digi-destined all shielded their heads with whatever books they pulled out of their backpacks, and ran to the nearest bus stop or structure that could shield them.

  "MASTER!"  Demidevimon flapped his wings as fast as possible as he rushed through the halls of the castle and reached his master's chambers.  Myo was in the entrance hall, patiently waiting for his human partner to arrive.

  "Not now," said the vampire, now pacing impatiently.  "Tali has not come home, and she knows where we are.  I know she was here yesterday and this morning, but I have not seen her yet."

  "Maybe she wants to have some time to herself…" mused the imp.  Suddenly his face grew worried as he suddenly remembered what Tali had told him that morning.  "Uh… I remember something, master… and I don't think you're gonna like it either…"

  "Is this about her?" asked Myotismon.  "Where is she, Demidevimon?"

  "She's on the plane back to her home country as we speak," the imp quickly replied, bracing himself for an impact to the head.  Then, when he realized that his master wasn't doing anything, he decided to continue, slowing down while he was at it.  "She came up to me this morning with a ton of heavy suitcases in her grasp, and I asked her what she was doing.  She told me not to tell you that she was running away… uh oh."  Demidevimon stopped, realizing his folly.

  "WHAT?"  Instead of being furious, like he had usually been whenever he interjected that expression, the vampire appeared to be worried.  "Why is everyone leaving me even when they know I have changed my ways?  Now she is alone out there… no one else…"

  Demidevimon had never seen his master act this worried before.  It frightened him even more than his bats.  "What do you want me to do about it?  Knock some sense into her?  That can be arranged."  He chuckled to himself, checking to see if he had any Demi Darts left.

  "It is what I am going to do about it," said Myotismon.  He walked quickly through the halls, Demidevimon asking impertinent and superfluous questions along the way as he flapped his wings in his face.  "And I am going to go out there and find her myself, despite the dangers out there.  I know there is the matter of Daemon, and I know I will do something about it."

  "Myo?" asked Wizardmon, who had seen his former master walking to find the portal.  "What are you doing this for?"

  "I am going to find Tali, come hell or high water," replied the vampire.  "If Daemon finds her, he will do something atrocious to her, possibly kill her.  I cannot let this happen."

  "But what if Daemon kills you?" asked Wizardmon.

  "If it gets my digi-destined safely inside the walls of my castle, then that is what must happen."  He picked up the nine cards, which had been collecting dust.  He placed each of them in their respectable space, and the two doors that led to the portal slowly swiveled open until there was a space wide enough to drive a city bus through, with green light shining out of the portal.  With a swish of his cape, Myotismon stepped through the doorway, and without a look backwards at his castle, he let the doors close shut behind him as he traveled to the real world.

  The real world had been exactly the way it had been when he arrived.  The clouds obliterated every last inch of sun, making the sky dark gray, nearly a pitch black.  Huge gusts of wind blew at varied intervals and varied time, but every time they did, everything was blown away slightly.  Tokyo was beginning to light up like candles in the distance, and the world seemed just right for the taking.

  This time, however, it was Daemon's taking.

  "I see him," said Daemon, looking through the viewing orb.  He saw Myotismon looking around for a trace of Tali's auburn hair, and while he did he looked sorrowful.  "And he's especially vulnerable.  I don't see the ass kisser Demidevimon and that poor excuse for a henchman Wizardmon with him.  I had better go pay him a little visit."  He morphed into a perfect replica of Tali and chuckled in her voice.  "Vampire boy is looking for Tali Nadir, but what he will get is a little ambush!"  He— as Tali— floated up the stairs and flew through the sky, landing where he could be found.

  "Tali!  Are you there?" asked the voice of what sounded like a boy.  There was the sound of footsteps, and then a blonde boy wearing a blue outfit peeked around the corner of the buildings in the alley where he thought the auburn-haired girl would be.  He had been searching for twenty minutes in disguise as that boy, and he thought he had seen Tali when it was really another auburn-haired person.  Then he saw her.  "Tali, is that you?"  He sighed a breath of relief.  "It is you!"

  Daemon was disgusted.  He didn't expect Tali to have a boyfriend, or a boy looking out for her.  Still, if the boy had connections to Myotismon in some way…  "Sure, I look like her…" said the demon digimon.

  "So you're not!" exclaimed the unidentified blonde boy.  He saw the truth in the faux Tali's eyes.  Instead of being wide and green, they were slanted and glowing yellow.  "Daemon," he growled.

  "It seems to me that you know me," said the fake Tali, in Daemon's deep voice.  Then he morphed back from appearing to be an eleven-year old girl to his normal cloaked self.

  "Damn right I know you.  Now where is she?"  The boy had spoken in a different voice that was also a deep voice but was very different from the demon's.

  "My, your voice sounds familiar."

  "Maybe you will recognize this face."  The boy grew taller, then he changed back into his true form of Myotismon.

  "Myotismon.  It has been a long time, hasn't it.  You still your same pathetic self, or have you actually been training just for this moment?"

  "I know you have done something with Tali and the other digi-destined.  Tell me where they are."

  "Why should I tell you that?"

  "Or will I just need to answer to that myself?"

  "You can try," said Daemon, sounding prepared to fight.  "I am prepared, with your attacks with me."  The eye pendant on the chain around his neck glowed a bright crimson, and suddenly another black cloud flew through the sky and grew larger, seeming to emit several high-pitched squeaks as it did so.  As the cloud neared the ground, the vampire could see the distinct shapes of everything in the cloud.  Thousands of bat wings were flapping, and there were just as many pairs of glowing yellow eyes.  Those bats used to be Myotismon's bats, and he could tell because they all had the letter "A" etched on their foreheads.  They were now following Daemon.

  "Remember these little winged rodents?" asked the demon, not hiding his adulation.  "They're mine now, and there is nothing you can do about it!  Come on, vampire boy, don't you want them back?"  The thousands of bats perched on anything that protruded from the buildings or hovered around Daemon.  "Your attack first."

  _I don't know if I want to fight,_ thought the vampire.  _Every time I do, things just get worse.  Still, I want Daemon away from all the worlds, and I want him dead.  So what if it's so I can dominate them later, at least everyone gets what they want for a short time._  He stood there, facing the demon with clenched fists.

  "Come on, just attack so you can lose and I can proceed on to killing the digi-destined," said Daemon.  "Or are you afraid to attack me?  You are a coward, which no villain can stand for.  No hero can have cowardice either.  I have already won, for all I see."

  "I won't let you do this!" shouted Myotismon.  He ran up to Daemon and formed an attack with what little energy he had.  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  The whip of lightning was the size of a string, which did not glow too much.  It was not very effective, and the worst it did was make Daemon laugh.

  "Is that the best you can do?" asked the demon digimon.  "GRISLY WING!"

  Before the vampire could do anything more, thousands of bats flew out from under Daemon's cloak, enveloping him in a cloud of flapping wings and supersonic screeches, with many of them nipping at his flesh and tearing his clothes apart.  It hurt so much, he wished he could die.

  "Have you had enough?" inquired Daemon.  All the bats flew behind him in a cloud, letting Myotismon fall to the ground below.  His suit was tattered and torn, and already he was bleeding everywhere underneath.  "It seems you have… not."

  After moaning from the pain of the bats attacking, Myotismon decided to speak out against his adversary.  "I will not let my own attacks get to my mind.  I would rather die than let you do anything to this world!"

  "So be it," said Daemon.  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  The whip cracked in the air, and then it flew down and struck the vampire across his back, tearing apart any of the wounds that had just finished healing and making him cry out.  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  A second and third whip added to everything.  The demon heard nothing, and he knew that Myotismon just wouldn't let himself surrender to him.  Finally he decided to just cease everything.

  With a cry out, Myotismon fell to the ground.  His suit was tattered and torn, he was beginning to bleed from the attack, and he showed pain in his heart.  It showed in his blue eyes.  His attacks had nearly killed him as well as killing others.  With Daemon's strength, who knew what it would do to the digi-destined.  He stayed still and fell into a deep sleep on the ground, abandoning all hope.

  That was when the rain began to fall.

  All of a sudden, Matt's and Tai's digivices began to beep like two overcharged cell phones.  As a few people on the streets paused to look and see if their cell phones were on, the two of them looked at them and saw the yellow warning light flashing on and off.

  "Oh my God, someone's in trouble!" Tai interjected.  "You don't think it's Kari, do you?"

  "What if TK and Kari are hurt or even dead?" wondered Matt.  "We need to find them now!"

  "Should we?" wondered Mimi.

  "Of course," replied Joe.  "It's getting cold, and they could get pneumonia or starve to death or something like that!"

  Tai and Matt nodded to the rest of the group, and they ran through the rain as fast as possible, following the yellow and pink signals on the screen of their digivices.  They ran for about ten minutes, feeling the rain grow into a heavy downpour.  Mimi wanted to complain about her hair, but she decided to think twice about it.  When the two leaders were worried about their siblings, it was not the time to complain about anything.

  Finally, they reached the convention center, where the signal was the strongest.  The keepers of courage and friendship waved their beeping digivices around, and it was clear that their brother and sister were both in there.

  By that time, the rain was pouring its hardest, seemingly spilling water on the digi-destined by the poolful.  They were soaked and freezing, but they still felt a bit of slight warmth from hope.

  "Are you sure they're in here?" asked Sora.

  "Positive," replied Izzy.  "The digivice never lies.  It is obvious that their coordinates are within this building and not any other place.  The signal is the strongest when its direction is inclined towards the television station."

  "Then what are we waiting for?" asked Tai.  "Let's go!"

  "Tai, I don't think it's such a good idea to…" Sora admonished, but the others had begun to dash into the station, where TK and Kari were being held captive.  She sighed, then ran faster to catch up.

  They followed the signal of the digivice as the signal grew stronger and beeped faster as well as louder.  Of course, they knew this was very familiar, as they had experienced everything that very summer.  Maybe the rumors were true, and Myotismon had returned to capture them, starting with TK and Kari, the most powerful of them all.

  "And where do you think you're going?" a deep voice boomed as darkness enveloped the six older digi-destined, who all backed up and huddled together in fright.  Suddenly the slightly familiar surroundings of the TV station were obliterated by darkness, and a white fog rolled in.  They could also hear the faint beating of wings.  "To rescue your youngest members?  Well I have captured them, and you will never get them back!"

  "We're not afraid of you!" shouted the keeper of courage.  "Whoever you are," he added.

  That was when they all realized that they didn't have their digimon with them, and because of that, they were doomed.

  "You do not know who I am?" asked the voice.  The fog reduced its thickness so a familiar shadow could be seen in its midst.  "You ought to remember me.  You tried to destroy me so many times, even lock me away in a pitiful Gate of Destiny.  Not even a Gate of Destiny could prevent me from returning in my full glory!"

  "It's Myotismon!" shouted Tai.  "I knew he returned!"

  The fog rolled away, and a cloud of bats flew towards the digi-destined.  As the bats flew into the air, Daemon, in disguise as Myotismon, appeared before them.

  "I have you all right where I want you," said the demon digimon.  "And now… to eliminate you!"

  "NO!" shouted Tai.  He thrusted his digivice into the air, which began to beep and glow bright orange.

  "We're not afraid of you!" shouted TK.  "You have forgotten that we have the angels on our side!"

  "The angels, huh?" asked Devimon.  "We can beat your angels any day.  We have power from Master Daemon, and so our powers are limitless!"

  "Oh yeah?"  Kari held her digivice in the air, and she felt as if Angemon and Angewomon were coming to defeat the devil digimon for a second time, and that she and TK would see their friends and siblings again.

  At that very time, the digimon were peacefully resting in the digital world when suddenly they got a signal of urgency that was coming from their partners' digivices.  They quickly opened their eyes and stood up, looking alert and energized.  Eight columns of light shot down from the sky and lifted Agumon, Gabumon, Biyomon, Tentomon, Gomamon, Palmon, Patamon, and Gatomon into the sky, and they all found themselves in the real world.

  "What just happened?" wondered Biyomon.

  "I think we're really needed," replied Patamon.  "I get that feeling as I'm about to digivolve."

  Suddenly, as if they had an innate sense of knowing where their human partners were, the eight digimon ran to the TV station as fast as their legs could carry them.  Patamon and Gatomon paused.

  "Patamon, digivolve to… ANGEMON!"

  "Gatomon, digivolve to… ANGEWOMON!"

  The two angels took off into the sky, circled around the towers of the TV station, and saw their human partners in deep peril.

  "I know something's up," said Wizardmon.  "I think we should go to the real world.  I mean, what if something's happened to both of them?"

  "Wizzy, you amaze me," replied Demidevimon.  "Last year you were complaining about Master Myotismon, and now you're worried about something happening to him?"

  The wizard sighed.  "Times change," was his reply.  "And so do hearts.  Even a virus can become like a data or vaccine simply because of a change of heart.  Most vaccines remain good their entire lives, and same goes for viruses.  Datas seem to be a little bit of both.  However, there are some exceptions.  There are evil vaccine types who became that way over the years, and there are good viruses, like Myotismon has become.  Because I have not seen any instances of the virus having a change of heart except for him, I'd have to say that Myotismon is a mon unlike any other mon."

  "I hope we get that digi-destined girl back," said the imp.  "She's kind of pretty.  I think we should find her ourselves, and let the master take care of Daemon.  He's strong enough all right."

  "OK," said Wizardmon.  "Let's go."

  He picked up the cards and placed them in each of the right places.  The two doors opened, and the two digimon stepped through the portal.  If that had not have happened, the events following everything at that time would have been drastically different.

To be concluded in the tenth chapter!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*


	10. Myotismon's Destiny

Final author's note: Here is the final chapter.  I enjoyed writing this story, and I hope you enjoyed reading it too.  No author's notes at the end.  Well, this is it…   Anyway, thank you to all my reviewers so far (in no particular order): blackmage718, Sabrina Black, BC, Taichi Princess, Chibigreen Tanuki, Blackout12, Avalon, Angel of the Dark, DuchessRaven, vandegatomoncat, Kyer (Like I said in the summary, Wizardmon doesn't die!), Myotismon13, riye, Lunamew, PrincessRuki, Tyrant-Scizor, Kathrina, and LadyApocalymon!  OK, just promise not to kill me because of the ending.  And now, the CONCLUSION of one of, in my opinion, my best works yet!

Chapter 10

Myotismon's Destiny

  Devimon began to advance on TK, and LadyDevimon followed her male counterpart's lead by advancing on Kari.  They seemed to have a hungry look to them, and their arms were extended as if their fingertips could drain them of their lives.

  "Don't worry," said the devil digimon like a doctor about to give his patient a shot.  "This won't hurt a bit!"

  "What are you going to do to us?" asked Kari with a quaver in her voice.

  "You wish to know?" asked the devil lady.  "We are merely going to drain your souls out of those comfortable little shells of flesh and bone, therefore making you soulless freaks who walk the earth in search of another soul.  We give new meaning to the term 'selling your soul to the devil.'  Only this time, we give you nothing in return."

  She and Devimon extended their hands.  Their fingers glowed crimson, like Daemon's eye pendant whenever he utilized Myotismon's attacks.  The young keepers of hope and light gasped and shook, gripping each other's sweaty hands as they stared into the lifeless eyes of the two demon digimon.

  Suddenly, as Devimon's fingertips were less than an inch away from TK's face, the sound of shattering glass broke the suspenseful silence.  Both the digi-destined breathed a sigh of relief as they saw Angemon and Angewomon standing before them in their full glory, gripping a rod and a glowing arrow of light.

  "Angemon!" TK exclaimed.

  "Angewomon!" Kari echoed.

  "WHAT?" asked Devimon, whirling around.  "Well well well, it's Angemon.  I will have a lot of fun deleting you."

  "And you, Angewomon," replied LadyDevimon.  "That last time you defeated me back at Piedmon's palace was only a practice run.  I have trained with the big guy, Daemon, and am ready to defeat you!"

  "Bring it on," challenged the angel lady.  "TK, Kari, you two go.  We'll hold them off."

  The blonde boy took the young brunette by the hand and quickly led her across the room towards the door.

  "Where do you think you are going?" asked Devimon.  "TOUCH OF EVIL!"  His arms, which were already abnormally long, extended even farther out and swiped the ceiling with its hands.  White chunks of ceiling large and steep enough for two children not to climb over crashed down into a misshapen circle around TK and Kari, confining them in what seemed to be a makeshift cage.  "And you, Angemon?  TOUCH OF EVIL!"

  "ANGEL ROD!"

  Devimon's extended arm swung around, his red middle finger glowing.  The angel digimon took his golden angel rod and slashed it through the air like a knight swung a sword.  It crashed against Devimon's arm, forcing him to cry out and reduce the size back to its normal length.

  "You will pay for this!" shouted the devil digimon.

  Meanwhile, LadyDevimon and Angewomon had confronted each other, both prepared to attack.  Instead of physically, they decided to do it verbally.

  "You can never beat me, blondie!" shouted LadyDEvimon.  "Not only am I the better fighter, but I look better than you."

  "Ha!" laughed Angewomon.  "Your fighting skills cannot hold a candle to mine!"

  All of a sudden, the demon lady bitch-slapped the angel across the cheek.  The struck area began to turn red.  Angewomon decided to bitch-slap her enemy back.  The two started slapping each other harder than ever, and didn't stop even when their swollen red cheeks stung.  Instead, they slammed each other onto the floor and started fighting like cats instead of attacking.

  "EVIL WING!"  Devimon spread his huge bat wings into the air and unleashed waves of darkness upon Angemon, making his head terribly ache and his ears ring.  The pain from it all overwhelmed him and made him fall to the ground against the barricade that held TK and Kari captive.

  Angewomon heard the crash and turned her head towards the scene.  She kicked LadyDevimon off of her and stood up, flying over to where Devimon was.  "You will pay for this!" she shouted.  "Evil will never win, for light always triumphs over darkness in the end!"  She formed an arrow out of pure light and a bow and arrow.  She drew the string and the arrow back, seeing that the devil digimon was right where she wanted him to be.  "CELESTIAL ARROW!"  The angel lady gently let go of the arrow and let it fly through the air.  It wedged itself right into Devimon's shoulder.

  "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" shouted Devimon so loudly the building began to vibrate.  He tried to wrench the arrow out, but it wouldn't work.  The light was too brilliant for him to see, so he lost his sense of coordination.  When he let go, countless sparks flew into his eyes, so he also lost his sight.  "TOUCH OF EVIL!"  He waved his arms around violently, but the only things they hit were the walls.  Cracks and craters appeared in the walls wherever the devil digimon thrust his hand into the wall.

  "You!" shouted LadyDevimon as Angemon began to regain his consciousness.  "DARKNESS WAVE!"  She spread her cape, and more powerful waves of darkness knocked Angewomon back into the wall.  Then she unleashed hundreds of bats on her, which began to nip at her flesh and cause her to bleed and cry out.

  "HAND OF FATE!"  Angemon thrust his hand right into the devil lady's side, forcing her back onto the ground.  "Leave her alone or you will get another one!"

  LadyDevimon grinned evilly.  "And what are you going to do?  Punch me in the side?  Pathetic.  I can do far worse things.  EVIL WING!"  She redirected the hundreds of bats towards Angemon, but the angel knew exactly what to do.  He began to glow a blinding white, causing the bats to screech and fall to the ground, blinded and burning.  He ceased his glowing as the little winged rodents dissolved.

  "So what?" asked LadyDevimon.  "I can just call upon more bats."

  "Then Angemon can call upon me!" declared Angewomon.  She flew over and formed a longer and more brilliant Celestial Arrow with her hands.  "CELESTIAL… ARROW!"  She let the arrow fly straight and true through LadyDevimon's chest.

  The devil lady cried out louder than her male counterpart, then she fell onto her knees, clutching the area above her bust where the arrow had pierced it, right through her small blackened heart.  She gasped for breath, then collapsed.

  "You… win… Angewomon…" she said before closing her eyes.

  "And for both of you, where you are going you will be locked away FOREVER this time!" declared the angel.  He nodded to TK, who clutched his digivice.  He began to glow yellow.  "Angemon, digivolve to… MAGNA ANGEMON!"

  "What the devil?" asked Devimon.  Though he was blind now, he was able to know that he was in deep trouble.  "MAGNA Angemon?"

  "Who are you working for?" asked the powerful angel.

  Out of fear and awe, Devimon decided to give a reply.  "I am working for Daemon.  He will control all the worlds even when his henchmen are locked away where you send us!  He has taken my brother's power and used it to become the most powerful of all the digimon ever generated!"

  "GATE OF DESTINY!"  Magna Angemon took his sword and brought it around in a circle, once again forming the golden gates with the inscriptions on them.  "Angewomon?"

  The angel lady brought a sudden gale of wind that lifted the two devil digimon out of the air and got them sucked into the Gate of Destiny, back into the Dark Ocean.  Then she flew over and lifted TK and Kari out of the barricade and onto the ground.

  "You two go find the others," she instructed.  "We are going to trap the rest of Daemon's henchmen, then proceed on to him, that creep."

  "Yeah, get that creep!" shouted Kari.  "You go, Angewomon!"

  As the two angels flew through the shattered windows into the stormy sky, the same question dwelled in their minds: Who was Devimon's brother?

  "Agumon, digivolve to… GREYMON!"

  "Gabumon, digivolve to… GARURUMON!"

  "Biyomon, digivolve to… BIRDRAMON!"

  "Tentomon, digivolve to… KABUTERIMON!"

  "Gomamon, digivolve to… IKKAKUMON!"

  "Palmon, digivolve to… TOGEMON!"

  The six champions crashed through the walls of the convention center and dashed through the corridors, following Garurumon.

  "I can smell them," the blue wolf declared in his gruff voice.  "Keep following me."  He dashed through the halls as fast as his strong legs could carry him until he saw a large dark bubble that filled the halls and bulged in the tight area.  He tried to phase through the bubble by jumping through, but he bounced off the bubble's supposedly impregnable surface and hit the wall behind him.

  "What happened?" wondered Birdramon.

  "Togemon, pop that thing, whatever it is," dictated Garurumon.

  The cactus nodded, then brought her needle-covered arms out so the needles would pierce the bubble just so.  "NEEDLE SPRAY!"  Thousands of needles shot out of her arms and got lodged in the surface of the bubble, but didn't pop it.

  "HARPOON TORPEDO!"  Ikkakumon decided that a larger needle could do something, so he launched the large harpoons out of his forehead, and it hit the bubble, but it didn't do anything.

  "What are we going to do now?" asked Kabuterimon.  "If Togemon and Ikkakumon can't make it explode, I don't know how we can get past that thing."

  Meanwhile, inside the bubble, the disguised Daemon glanced in the direction the digimon were coming from.  "Ah, I see your little friends are here to rescue you," he declared.  "Why don't we let them in?"  The bat clasp, which was the eye pendant in disguise, glowed.

  Outside, the large bubble began to expand.

  "What's going on?" asked Greymon.  Suddenly, it expended so much it seemed to swallow up Garurumon, who was still on the ground.  "Garurumon!" he cried out before phasing through the surface.

  One by one, the digimon found themselves inside the bubble, which was an area of pure darkness and full of a dense fog.  Inside it were the digi-destined, minus Tali, TK, and Kari.  They were being confronted by Myotismon, or what looked like him

  "Myotismon!" growled Garurumon.  "I knew there was something fishy going on around here!"

  Daemon darkly chuckled, then raised his arms into the air, making the bubble expand so the entire convention center and TV station were enveloped in its walls.  Everything around the group of humans and digimon was a darker and foggier version of the interior of the convention center.  "Thanks to me, these will be your final surroundings!"

  "That's it Myotismon," said Tai.  "We tried defeating you many times, and now it's time we put you away where you belong!"

  "NOVA BLAST!"

  "HOWLING BLASTER!"

  "METEOR WING!"

  "ELECTRO SHOCKER!"

  "HARPOON TORPEDO!"

  "NEEDLE SPRAY!"

  All six attacks flew straight towards the disguised Daemon, and a red glow appeared around him.  The attacks dissolved when they reached the edge of the glow and landed on the ground in six separate piles of ashes.

  "GRISLY WING!"  Daemon used Myotismon's primary attack, and he spread his cape and let millions of bats fly through the air at the digi-destined and their digimon, letting them rip their flesh and produce a high-pitched squeak that was unbearable to their ears.  When the bats finally cleared, all the champions were lying on the ground as rookies again, all scratched up and bruised.

  "It hurts too much to move," whispered Gomamon.

  "Matt, I want to get reconfigured," cried Gabumon.

  "We can do something about it," said the keeper of friendship.  "I hope.  ANGEMON WHERE ARE YOU????"

  Suddenly two rays of bright white light flooded through the room, and the two angels burst in on their wings.

  "Myotismon?"  Angemon was incredulous.  "I thought you had a change of heart!"  
  The demon digimon darkly chuckled to himself.  "I never had a change of heart!" he declared.  "I have been my evil self the whole time, and I even fooled you!  CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  Daemon's pendant glowed, and he unleashed the second attack in a large whip that headed straight towards Angemon's chest.

  The angel took his rod and gripped it firmly in his hands.  "I'll teach you a little lesson in manners!  ANGEL ROD!"  He swung his rod around, making the whip of lightning wrap around it.  He snatched the lightning right out of Daemon's hand.  "Why did you deceive me?" he interrogated.

  "Because I am Lord Myotismon, that's why," replied Daemon.

  "Never lie to an angel," growled Angemon.  "HAND OF FATE!"  He punched a beam of light right at the demon's chest, right where the eye pendant was.  It hit the bat clasp, which transformed back into the glowing eye pendant.  Then the glass of the pendant shattered, allowing the crimson mist within it to fly out and shoot through the air, the millions of bats following its lead.

  "MY PENDANT!" screamed Daemon.  "ANGEMON YOU WILL PAY!"  His transformation quickly reversed from the body of the vampire to his own, the very one cloaked in red robes and the chain with the shattered pendant around his neck.

  The digi-destined and the angel digimon gasped.

  "You're not Myotismon," Angewomon declared.  "Where is the real one?"

  Daemon began to laugh.  "I'm not telling you where vampire boy is, but I shall get my revenge on every final one of you!  Prepare for a final showdown when the storm ceases!"  He laughed even harder, then shattered the nearest window with his psychic energy.  When that task was finished, he flew through the open window into the air, where the storm was already beginning to settle down.

  The digi-destined stood there as the bubble dissipated, surrounding them with the vibrant colors of the walls.  TK and Kari ran up to them at just that time.

  "TK!"  Matt hugged his brother.  "Thank God you're all right!"

  "Hi Matt," said TK.  "Devimon and LadyDevimon almost got me and Kari, but Angemon and Angewomon saved us just in the nick of time!"

  "Speaking of time," Sora reminded them, "we need to get our digimon to heal before the storm ends!  That demon wants a final showdown at that time!  Who was he, Izzy?"

  The redhead opened his Pineapple computer, typed something in, and backed away so the crew could see the analyzer.  The information on Daemon was displayed on the screen, along with a picture.  "That's Daemon," he informed his companions.  "He's a mega level virus digimon.  He is very powerful and mysterious.  His attacks are Evil Inferno and Evil Flapping.  Legend has it that the eye pendant around his neck has the power to give him the potency of other digimon's attacks and even the ability to take on their appearance.  It seems that he had utilized Myotismon's attacks to deceive us."

  "Hi, I'd like a one-way ticket to London, please," declared Tali.

  The ticket holder looked amused by the auburn-haired girl.  IT was not often that a sixth-grader was ordering an airplane ticket.  "Are you sure, miss?" he asked.

  "Yes, very sure," replied Tali.  "If you must know, I have the money.  England is my home, and all I have left is there."  She reached into her purse and pulled out a large wad of the bills that were highest in value.  "I don't mind where the seat is, as long as I get back."

  After quite a bit of conversation, it was decided that the girl would go back that afternoon in less than an hour.  "Have a nice day," replied the ticket salesman.

  Tali sat down in the airport seat and watched the TV.  Since the daytime shows were of little interest to her, she decided to read something.  She opened her backpack and rummaged through it until feeling one of her most treasured leather-bound books: a photo album.  She also pulled out a golden heart-shaped locket on a fine golden chain.

  Tears formed in her eyes as she paged through the album and gazed at the pictures that were the only memories she had of her true family.  There was one of her hugging her mother, one of her and her father walking their dog in the park.  Both were taken when she was only six.  There was one of her at a younger age, cradling Julius in her arms.  Then there was one she cried at the most.  The picture was the most recent, which was taken in London the day she became a digi-destined.  The family was in nice clothes, but they looked relaxed and felt like they wanted to play.  Tali had her arms wrapped around her father's shoulder, as if she wouldn't let go.  Julius was giving her bunny ears, and Ms. Nadir looked as if she was going to scold her son.  At first she was annoyed that she ever had that picture, but everything was different.

  She opened the locket and saw two sides to it.  On the left there was a small black and white picture of the Nadir family, all of them looking stiff and disciplined.  On the right were the following words written in calligraphy: "Thaleia Rose Nadir, born January 12, 1989.  Never let go."

  More tears formed in her eyes, and she stuffed everything back into her backpack.  To avert her mind from the melancholy paraphernalia, she gazed at the screen of the TV, where the normally scheduled programming had been interrupted for a special report.

  "The weather has grown even more bizarre than it has last summer," declared the newscaster.  "A strange fog has appeared throughout the city, blocking off traffic.  The sky has also taken on a greenish tint, with hints of what looks like some sort of devil flying around the TV station and convention center.  Other strange sights have been confirmed, such as what look like two angels, like last summer.  Some have been thinking that the cause of this was the same vampire that began a rampage through Tokyo…"

  Tali suddenly couldn't wait to return to England.

  "Anyone there?" asked Wizardmon.  He and Demidevimon were searching the city streets for a sign of Tali or even Daemon.  He came upon a grown businesswoman, who was talking on her cell phone under her umbrella.  He pulled on her skirt, and she looked down at him.  "Excuse me, miss, but have you by any chance have seen—"

  "Get away from me you freak!" shouted the woman.  She stomped away.

  "Nobody seems to want us around," remarked the imp.  He looked around, seeing no humans in the area.  Then he shivered.  "Geez, it's too cold and wet around here!  Can you get a spell that can repel water?"

  "Look!" the wizard pointed out with his sun staff.  What looked like a familiar form was lying in the alley.  It stirred slightly if they looked close enough.  "Maybe we should heal him.  Come on Demidevimon."

  So the two of them ran over to the alley, where they saw that it was no ordinary human lying on the ground, soaked and slightly dirty, with scratches and scrapes all over his body, which was revealed through the tears in his suit.

  "Myotismon?" asked Wizardmon.  "What happened to you?"

  "Daemon…" whispered the vampire.  "Thank you for coming for me…  Now just leave me here…"

  "Not my master!" exclaimed Demidevimon.  "I mean, you're just pathetic now.  You're maskless as well as powerless, and a stupid horned thing that looks like a cult member gave you a little beating up and you're lying on the ground saying you're going to die."

  Suddenly a red glow appeared before all of them, and it enveloped them in its light.  The noise of bat wings sounded in the two smaller digimon's ears as they closed their eyes.  Finally, the light died down and the unbearable sound ceased.

  When they finally opened their eyes, they saw Myotismon, before them in his full vampiric glory.  His suit had been repaired, and it fit perfectly on his reformed figure, which changed from dangerously thin to once again lanky and well-muscled.  His blonde hair was once again perfectly combed back and every last strand of hair was in place.  His blue eyes were once again icy and cold, and they were set off by his newly replaced mask.  Thousands of bats were flying around him.

  "M… m… m… master?" Demidevimon stammered.  "What happened to you?"

  "My power has returned," declared Myotismon, examining himself.  "I am back to the way I was…"

  "Do you think he's evil again?" whispered Wizardmon.  "He looks like it."

  The vampire heard what the wizard had said, so he quickly took off into the air before he could do anything to anyone.  The storm was almost over, and the rain was growing scarcer.  The sky had taken on a horrific green tint, and the ominous thunderclouds were swirled around above the TV station.  He knew it was Daemon's work.  He needed to think about things.  If he got his power back, was he truly evil again?  He took on the appearance he had before he entered the Gate, and even had his mask returned to him.

  _I wish not to be evil,_ he thought to himself as he flew over the station.  _Is this some sort of test which tells me that being evil is my destiny?  I now dispise destiny with all my heart.  Destiny sent me through the Gate, and made me good again.  I know that if I hadn't gone through the Gate, none of this would have happened.  Though everything is my fault and my doing, if I could, I would reverse everything.  Why do I not shed tears whenever I think of my long-dead henchmen?  I know I stole their lives, just tore them away… why is it I wish I still rule the world?  I want to believe I am good… and why is it that I want to defeat Daemon?  Is it because I want to do good for the worlds, or to take over the worlds without him getting in the way?_

  He perched on the pinnacle of the tower and looked over the city of Tokyo.  _Look at that world.  They do not know a thing.  Why am I thinking like my old evil self?  Is it my destiny?_

  Suddenly he heard a voice in his mind.  "Your Destiny prevailed within the Gate," said the voice.  It sounded a lot like Angewomon whispering.  "You know your own destiny, and now you must get to it.  When you stand at the crossroads of Good and Evil, choose the path you think is better.  Simply doing something is not as important as how you choose to use it.  Now go take your road!"

  Myotismon saw what was happening below him and knew what he had to do.  He leapt off the building and flew towards the action.

  "The rain!" exclaimed Matt.  "It stopped!  Not a single drop is falling now!"

  "Oh God… please not now!" shouted Tai.

  They were outside the convention center, trying to get their digimon to stand up.  Suddenly they saw two shapes coming down the street.  As the digi-destined turned their heads, they saw that the two shapes were Wizardmon and Demidevimon.

  "Demidevimon!" growled TK.  "You won't get me again, right Patamon?"

  "No you don't understand," said Demidevimon.  "We're here to help you."

  Tai grabbed the imp by the feet and shook him.  "All right, I know what you're up to.  I know your little ambush tricks."

  "He's right," said the young wizard.  "If I heal your digimon, will you let us help you?  I know that you're about to fight Daemon."

  The digi-destined looked at each other reluctantly, then stepped back one by one.  Wizardmon took his staff and waved it over the injured rookie digimon, muttering a healing incantation.  A glittery powder fell out of the staff and landed on their wounds and affected areas.  After a few seconds, Agumon and the other rookies had completely healed and were able to stand up.

  "Thank you Wizardmon," acknowledged Tai.  "You and Demidevimon can help us."

  Suddenly Daemon's voice rang out through the air.  "The storm has ended!" he declared.

  All of a sudden, the large group found themselves being transported onto the roof of the TV station.  Daemon was facing them, and he had grown from six feet tall to his full height of ten feet, a red aura surrounding him.  He darkly chuckled to himself.  "Are you ready to fight?" he asked.  "Because I am!"

  "Agumon, digivolve to… GREYMON!  Greymon, digivolve to… METALGREYMON!"

  "Gabumon, digivolve to… GARURUMON!  Garurumon, digivolve to… WEREGARURUMON!"

  "Biyomon, digivolve to… BIRDRAMON!  Birdramon, digivolve to… GARUDAMON!"

  "Tentomon, digivolve to… KABUTERIMON!  Kabuterimon, digivolve to… MEGAKABUTERIMON!"

  "Gomamon, digivolve to… IKKAKUMON!  Ikkakumon, digivolve to… ZUDOMON!"

  "Palmon, digivolve to… TOGEMON!  Togemon, digivolve to… LILLYMON!"

  "Patamon, digivolve to… ANGEMON!"

  "Gatomon, digivolve to… ANGEWOMON!"

  "Go get him!" Tai shouted, pointing at Daemon.

  "Aw, eight against one, that isn't fair," commented the demon sarcastically.  "I think I better eliminate the competition.  EVIL INFERNO!"

  He spread his cloak and made a bunch of dark flames fly out at Garudamon and Zudomon.  Their feathers and fur caught on fire, and they began to get enveloped in it.

  "ZUDOMON!" screamed Joe.

  "_Hydrao tanré xeisànite!_" commanded Wizardmon, reciting the "water is life" incantation.  A huge blast of water flew out from his sun staff, extinguishing the flames and giving relief to the two scorched ultimates.

  "Damn you Wizardmon!" shouted Daemon.  "I ought to take care of you!  EVIL INFERNO!"

  "Stay away from him!  HAND OF FATE!"  Angemon flew over like a comet and knocked Daemon a few paces away, making him stumble and trip over his robes.

  "GIGA BLASTER!"

  "WOLF CLAW!"

  "WING BLADE!"

  "HORN BUSTER!"

  All four attacks flew straight at the demon digimon, who had raised himself off the ground.  He held out his cloak-covered hands and formed a force field around himself that caused the four attacks to dissolve into ashes around him.

  "VULCAN'S HAMMER!"

  "FLOWER CANNON!"

  The two other attacks were also unavailing; the flowers dried up as they flew through the air and the lightning bolt produced by the hammer sparked, then died out as it touched the force field.

  "THUNDER BALL!"  Wizardmon decided to assist them with the large ball of thunder.  It also flew through the air and hit daemon, but it just made the demon digimon chuckle.

  "Is that the best you can do?" he taunted.  "Pitiful little ultimates!  I ought to teach you all a lesson in fighting that you will never forget!  EVIL INFERNO!  EVIL FLAPPING!"

  The two attacks, which were the fire and darkness waves that were even more powerful than LadyDEvimon's flew out from his body and hit each of the ulitmate digimon.  First the inferno burned and scorched them, therefore making them vulnerable to attacks, and the evil flapping drained them of their energy and knocked them to the ground, not without letting out cries, one by one.

  "Agumon!" cried Tai.  He glared at Daemon and clenched his fist.  "You will pay for this!"

  "HAND OF FATE!"

  "CELESTIAL ARROW!"

  The angels let their attacks fly, but this demon digimon was no Devimon or LadyDevimon.  He let the Hand of Fate punch him and force him back a few steps, then grabbed the Celestial Arrow and sent it back at Angewomon, who zoomed out of the way.

  "Not even an angel can stand up to me and get out alive!" shouted the demon digimon.  He extended his hands and let this dark spirit fly out of them and envelop both Angemon and Angewomon in its darkness.  He savored the moment as both angels writhed and cried out, then fell to the ground like shot birds.  They both de-digivolved to Patamon and Gatomon.

   "Do something, Wizardmon!" shouted Kari.  "Please do something, you're our only hope!"

  "THUNDER BALL!"  the wizard let the attack out again, praying that it would do something.

  It did.  Daemon grabbed it out of the air and hurled it back at the wizard, making him crash into the wall.  He flopped onto the ground, exhausted and in pain from the attack.

  "And now to finish every last one of you off!" declared Daemon, advancing on all of them.  "I shall suck out all your souls and make you merely empty shells.  You digi-destined and angel digimon will be the best of all!"  He pulled his robes back and revealed his claw-like black hands, which had black energy surrounding them.  He was about to touch Wizardmon when he was stopped.

  "GRISLY WING!"  Thousands of bats flew back towards the demon digimon, making him fly back and cease his attacking.  The bats chewed away at Daemon's robes for a few seconds before the digi-destined saw Myotismon about to face off against their enemy.

  "MYOTISMON?????" all the digi-destined were incredulous.

  "What's HE doing here?" asked Sora.

  "Oh great, not another enemy to defeat!" exclaimed Matt.

  "Well well well, I see you're here to avenge yourself," said Daemon.  "Are you ready to die this time?"

  "I was about to ask the same thing!" shouted the vampire.  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  He took his whip, and all the digi-destined shielded their heads, bracing themselves for the attacks.  Then they saw that Myotismon wasn't attacking them, but he was attacking Daemon.  But why?

  "Attention," said a voice that blared over the loudspeakers.  "Air Japan's Flight 104 to London is now boarding."

  Tali began to gather her belongings, but the red flashes that appeared outside the window kept distracting her.  Since the TV station was not too far away from sight, she could see things clearly. She could make out the outlines of the digi-destined, and what looked like a demon… then the auburn-haired keeper of the Crest of Destiny gasped when she saw that the one who was fighting the evil-looking digimon was none other than her digimon partner.

  "Once again, Flight 104 to London is boarding," said the voice.

  Tali remembered that she had to catch a flight.  But she couldn't leave her digimon partner, could she?  She turned her head towards the gate, and then the TV station.

  "Final call for Flight 104 to London," declared the voice.

  Tali knew exactly what she had to do.

  The fight between Daemon and Myotismon had intensified, with each of them attacking the other and flying through the air in an aerial battle.  The digi-destined did not know which one to cheer for.  After what seemed like an hour, which was actually about fifteen minutes, both digimon had grown exhausted and landed on the surface of the TV station.  They both appeared roughed up from the attacks.

  "Hello, everyone!" rang out a familiar voice.  "Need a reinforcement?"

  "Tali!" Tai shouted, holding up a piece of paper.  "I thought you were going back to London!"

  "I was, until I saw my digimon partner risk his life."  Suddenly she clamped her hands over her mouth and gasped.  "I mean… fine, I admit it.  Myotismon is my digimon partner!"

  "WHAT????!!!!"  Tai's eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

  "Aw, it's Tali and her vampire, together again," commented Daemon.  "I know exactly what to do about her!"  He took his hand and waved it, making a huge wave of darkness knock her back onto the ground.  An awful screeching noise was ringing in her ears, and she squeezed her eyes shut to take her mind off of everything.

  Suddenly the demon was hit by a whip of Crimson Lightning.  "You stay away from her AND the digi-destined!" shouted Myotismon.

  "HA!  I can do whatever I wish to do," boasted the demon.  "I am all-powerful!  EVIL FLAPPING!"  He let the wave of darkness force the vampire back a few steps.

  Myotismon shielded himself with his cape, trying to stay conscious for defending the digi-destined.  He didn't know if they knew.  Finally the attack stopped when Daemon gave up.  "I once was cruel and powerful," he told Daemon as well as the digi-destined.  "And now that I have gone through a change of heart, I must do what I can to defend the worlds!"

  "You are a very courageous digimon, but would you risk everything for… that silly little group you call your own?"  Daemon pointed at Tali, Demidevimon… and Wizardmon.  "They will be the first to die, and you will be next!"

  The vampire immediately stepped in front of them with a straight face.  He stood with his feet apart and his arms at his side.  "No, and they will not die thanks to you!"

  Daemon raised his arms and prepared to attack.  Myotismon did exactly the same.  Tali regained consciousness.  All the digi-destined gasped and held their breaths.  The digimon watched.  Wizardmon shielded himself with his cloak.

  "MEGA INFERNO!" shouted Daemon, unleashing his most powerful attack, which was a combination of both attacks.

  "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!"  the vampire gathered all the energy he had and formed the largest bolt of Crimson Lightning he had ever formed, and made his bats fly with it, unleashing both his forceful attacks at the demon digimon…

  And he took the full blast of the attack.  He did it with courage.  As the huge ball of hot energy hit him, the entire area was enveloped in red light.  Everything was pure silence that could not be shattered.  All the digi-destined and digimon saw everything.  The force of the attack hit Myotismon so hard the last of his energy and life force was drained.  Before anyone could do anything, Myotismon cried out one last time, then dissolved into thin air.  He had been reconfigured.

  The lightning and the bats hit Daemon, like a darkness turning on its own master.  The demon digimon cried out before he got hit, not knowing what to do.  The bats chewed through his torso, and the lightning spread through his body and made him cry out even louder.  Huge bursts of Crimson Lightning enveloped every last inch of him before there was a large explosion.

  When the explosion cleared, Daemon was gone for good, and so were his henchmen.  The clouds in the sky were gone, and had been replaced by the deep vermilion sunlight of the evening.  Wizardmon, Demidevimon, and Tali were still alive.  So were the other digi-destined and digimon.  But Myotismon was gone, and all that remained of him was the crimson bat-winged mask that he was so well-known for.

  Every last human and digimon was silent.  They were happy that Daemon had been deleted forever, but they were very disappointed because they realized something.  Myotismon truly was a good digimon, and was no longer their enemy.  He proved so by sacrificing his life to save theirs.

  "No…" Tali whispered, her voice choked up and tears forming in her eyes.  "It can't be… if only I had known!  IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN!"  She fell to her knees and buried her head in her hands, crying as hard as she had when the rest of her family died.  "Why?" she asked.

  Wizardmon, fighting back his tears, slowly walked over to the place where his master stood and picked up the mask.  He placed it in front of the digi-destined, who bowed their heads in remembrance.  "He did not really die," he told them.  "His mask still remains with us, so he is still alive somewhere.  His spirit is here, and someday he will return to us to defend us."

  "He was an enemy and now he is our friend.  Right when it's too late to tell him so," declared Mimi.  "I wish we weren't so… so…"  She began to cry and squeeze Joe's hand.

  All the digi-destined held hands and bowed their heads, having a moment of silence in memory of the mon that they had never seemed to understand.  The digimon did the same.

  The next day they went to the digital world and traveled to Myotismon's castle.  Each of them carried a candle and a rose.  Tali carried the mask with her.  The digi-destined, their digimon, Wizardmon, and many of his henchmen went in a procession up to the tallest tower, where they lit the candles and placed them around the room, setting the roses on a velvet-covered stand in the middle.  The mask was gently placed upon the flowers.

  "Someday he will come back to us," said Tali.  "My aunt is flying to Tokyo tomorrow and bringing me to her house in England.  It will be very sad without any of you around… especially Myo… if only I understood…"

  "That's right," Angemon echoed.  "Someday he will return… possibly as an angel…"

  The group had another moment of silence, anticipating the vampire's return.

  He was a devil at first, torturing his henchmen and trying to take over the worlds, but then he became an angel who let his henchmen free and tried to destroy the other evil digimon for the good of the worlds.  At first only his face was handsome, with a hideous soul beneath his exterior, but then his soul matched his face.  He was a vampire, and loved it when humans shed their blood, but he shed his own blood for the humans.  It was not a trip through the Gate of Destiny that changed his heart, but it was his own reflections and new viewpoint on his own life.  The Gate just contributed to everything.  He loved the darkness, but after traveling through the Gate of Destiny he welcomed the light.  He at first wanted to destroy the other evil digimon so he would have a chance of world domination, but then he wished to do so to defend the world.  He had taken away so many lives, but sacrificed his own to save even more.

  Once evil, now good.  He was a mon unlike any other mon.  Myotismon.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*


End file.
